DearScon!
by hydroknight01
Summary: When Natsuki attends an international convention in Tokyo with Khi, what'll happen when she's made to confront her attraction to him? Can Khi conquer his own illusions, and fill the void in her that Takaya's departure left behind? 2yrs post-manga.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's notes:**

Hey, whatup guys! Well here it is – the 'something special' that I've been promising since my last profile update: the first chapter of my team's latest endeavor, and the first piece to come out of our most recent project: the **_DearS_ Project**.

As usual, keep in-mind that everything I post is subject to editing and general change in some form or another – this particularly is a work-in-progress piece, and is very much the first hash of this to be written/released. Reviews would be hugely appreciated, feedback even more so; some of this might be rewritten in the days and weeks to come, so if you feel that you like something about it in particular, speak up or next time you look, I might've written it out.

Now that my rambling is out of the way, on to the main event!

**EDIT - NEW READERS, NOTE:  
****Please be advised that Chapter 5 of this story has a rating of *M*, for the presense of distinctly adult goings-on. Reader discresion is advised. **

**DISCLAIMER:  
The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. _Team Hydro_ and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. _Team Hydro_ does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.**

* * *

**DearScon! Chapter 1**

Natsuki gazed around the entrance hall of the convention center nervously. The bustle of convention crowds and the sea-air smell of Tokyo Bay assailed her ears and nose from the wide-open doorways. She'd never been to one of these big get-togethers before, and the hotel-slash-convention-center was humongous, right on the waterfront as it was. And not to mention, the place was bursting at the seams with people and DearS. She'd heard that this year's _DearScon_ was going to be big, huge even, but this… she hadn't expected this.

Oihiko had splurged a torrent of information at them on the train here, and in truth she'd only taken in a few choice pieces of the mountain of facts and figures that their resident DearS fanatic had obviously memorised – like the fact that, all-in-all, over forty thousand tickets had been sold for the event. Forty thousand people, in one building!

What truly amazed her though, was that most of those ticketholders were DearS, and the rest were composed of the massive following that the world's growing population of alien refugees had garnered since their arrival, which grew again after Ren, Miu, Nia and so many others departed for the stars with Io. Her brother, wishing to remain with Ren, had gone with them.

The sudden roar of a passing crowd shook her from her musings, and gave her the momentary impression that a fair chunk of those forty thousand people were in the room with her, before they flocked quickly to the stairs and moved en-mass into the convention hall itself. Natsuki looked around again for a familiar face. _Where's Khi, dammit?! He's supposed to be—_ She halted that train-of-thought as a green-haired, well-dressed figure moved toward her, waving something at her above the crowd.

"Natsuki-san! I have the keys to our room!"

Khi jogged up to her, and began apologising like his tardiness in retrieving their room key was going to ruin their trip. It certainly wouldn't spoil it – somehow he'd managed to get them into a suite instead of a normal hotel room like everybody else had. God knew she'd gotten a few strong doses of the evil eye from her school friends when they'd heard.

"The main desk is overwhelmed this year…" she heard Khi say, and refocused her full attention on him. "For a moment I was beginning to think they'd lost our reservation," he breathed, before he rather-unsubtly noticed they were a man down. "Where is Oikawa-san?" he looked about for their snap-happy tag-along, but came up empty. "I'm sure he was here when I left…"

"He's probably off taking pictures like the pervert he is," she answered, her voice dripping with scorn. "Last I saw him he was ogling a bunch of DearS on the stairs with his camera in his hand and stars in his eyes, so he probably ran off to chase space-skirt. Don't worry; he'll come back when his camera runs out of memory or something…"

Secretly she hoped, however, that that would be the last of Hikoro Oikawa that she would see for the day; the guy gave her the creeps, and she made a mental note to ask Khi why he'd let the loser tag along at the last minute; no doubt the sympathetic DearS couldn't find it in himself to say 'no' – one of these days she'd have to remind her soft-hearted best friend that it was okay to send Koharu's number-one DearS stalker packing every once in a while.

But, in his defence, her mother had only green-lighted her place on this whole excursion after Khi had mentioned that Oihiko would be coming along with them; after that, Harumi's scepticism had quickly dissipated, and she'd consented to the weekend away. Natsuki found it unnerving how her mother and, even more worryingly, her father seemed to have a soft spot for Takaya-onii-chan's weird school friend; maybe it was something to do with the boy's obsession with the Earth's growing population of Dear Friends from Outer Space…

Natsuki once again snapped out of her reverie when Khi touched her elbow, and they began making for the elevators. Oihiko had taken his stuff with him; the boy had brought a camera bag and a backpack with him for the trip, but that was it. "Perhaps we should leave a message for Oikawa-san at the information desk," Khi said, "We should let him know that we have our room keys."

"He can get his own room key," Natsuki muttered, "We didn't bring him along just to babysit the jerk for the next two days… if he's man enough to take off on his own, then he's man enough to take care of himself…"

-x-x-x-

The room was a lot bigger than she'd expected it to be, and at first glance the layout confused her. Everything was more-or-less in one room, except for the bathroom and one bedroom— _Waitwaitwait… back up a sec. Bed__**room**__. Singular, as in, only __**one. **_"Um, Khi…" she muttered, just loud enough that he'd hear her from the hallway, where he was wresting their cases from the bowels of the elevator.

"There's only one bedroom…" she called, "And there's only one bed in it. What's up with that?"

It took a moment for her to register that the bed was a double, during which she contemplated panicking a little bit. God only _knew_ what her mother would say, if she found out they'd both slept in the same bed. There'd be hell to pay. _But then again…_ She smirked and shooed the thought away. _That_, she mused with a grin,_ would _really_ raise hell._

"Ah, the clerk at the desk told me about this," Khi said, suddenly stood next to her; she nearly jumped out of her skin when he spoke, but if he'd noticed her jump, he didn't show it – that was unusual for him, she thought, to be unobservant. She'd thought he was still in the hallway, but he'd come in and was looking over the room with what appeared to be an approving eye.

"Don't _do_ that! Idiot!" she wailed at him in mock distress; the moment had passed, but she still wanted him to know it had upset her, if only for a second – that way, he'd know better. "My apologies, Natsuki-san," he apologised quickly, knowing how unwieldy she could get, before continuing; "The room was rearranged last week," he said, "The management meant to have it cleaned and rearranged in time for the convention, but there wasn't time to put everything back in place in the bedroom; there is usually a set of single beds in this suite. They extended their apologies, and they offered us another room, but I'm happy to sleep in the living room. There are futons in the closet, I believe, and a pullout couch-"

"Great!" she beamed, cutting him off, "I'll take that, and you can get set up in the bedroom, then we can head down to the convention. It won't be long before the opening ceremony, and we can't miss that!"

Khi said nothing for a moment after that; he seemed utterly stunned by the idea of her wanting to sleep on the couch when there was a perfectly-good bed in the next room. He began to insist that she take the bedroom; she'd expected that, and held up a hand with a low hum that told him she was unbending in her decision. "I'm _used_ to sleeping in the living room at my brother's place, Khi… Bedroom's yours, now _get._"

Khi stifled his protests at her snappy remark, and began moving his things into the bedroom. He didn't like it, she knew that, but she also knew that if she took the bed then— _Nooo, not gonna go there,_ she thought, and brought that particular train of thought crashing to a halt. She really had to stop thinking that way! He was her best friend, for cryin' out loud!

And there was the whole alien-from-outer-space thing… _I could get past that… I could… Onii-chan got past it…_ she thought, unfolding the couch to see how it worked, before getting her things in order and stowing her suitcase in the closet. _But I'm not __**going**__ to get past it, because I'm not even going there..._

-x-x-x-_  
_

Khi unpacked his things as orderly as he could despite the obvious confusion that was pouring off Natsuki in the next room. Something was bothering her deeply, and oddly, it felt like she _wanted_ to be confused by it. He chuckled to himself, marvelling at the resolve she could muster, just to be stubborn and refuse to comprehend something.

He knew better than to ask what was bothering her, of course; he'd be rather sharply told to mind his own business. Natsuki got that way, snappy, and resolutely introverted, when wrestling with some internal anxiety. Much of her family were that way, he had discovered – not so much her father, but her mother, and particularly her brother.

Khi stopped what he was doing for a moment, and mentally trod on the urge to try his luck, uncover Natsuki's troubles regardless of the inevitable rebuke – trod on it _firmly_. Rubi-sama had impressed on him many times her opinion that it was not proper for a slave to openly show concern; she believed that unbridled sentiment was not appreciated, and that, in this respect, a DearS should be seen but not heard. _Feel, but never speak_; those were the words she often used to convey and imprint that message.

She made a point to drive that concern out of her charges with her various training programs, and had been very thorough in her attempt at beating it out of him, out of his very nature in her training sessions, at least until Fina-sama had awakened, and seen fit to stop her. Rubi-sama was very proud of her skills as an instructor, and her methods were… vigorous… to say the least. Thoughts of her were often accompanied by the sensations every DearS associated with her – the crack of her ever-present whip, and the singeing pain that followed, wherever it struck them.

But still, Natsuki's worry troubled him, and although he did his best to feign ignorance on her behalf, he couldn't help but notice it all the same. After all, he had promised Ikuhara Takaya-sama that he would watch over Natsuki in his absence, before he had departed for outer space with Miu and Io-sama and the others, and Takaya-sama would tell him not to stand idle about this. But until Natsuki deigned to tell him what it was that troubled her, and he was sure that she eventually would, he would simply wait.

In the meantime, they had a convention to attend, and he was greatly looking forward to it. There were already many DearS here from overseas, and he had no doubt that much of their number were from the new colonies that had had been formed in other countries since Io-sama's departure for pastures new.

It was so exciting! The number of DearS had risen so drastically, and in so short a time that it was truly shocking. Fina-sama had been wise to arrange for small groups of DearS to be dispatched to the other major countries of the Earth, once the full effects of Ren-sama's awakening had been confirmed, and six new colonies like the one here in Japan had quickly sprouted, and grown too.

_I can't remember_, he mused, _the last time so many DearS children were born… China and Io-sama were among the last before Fina-sama had us flee into space to escape the war. And now… now we can rebuild._

At that moment, Natsuki poked her head in to the room, and jolted him out of his contemplations; "Hey, daydreamer! Are you ready or what?"

"Ah… Of course!" he replied, smiling, "Shall we go, then?"

"Let's roll! DearScon here we come!" Natsuki grinned, and fled for the door.

Staring at the empty space she had just vacated with a grin of his own, Khi slid his empty suitcase under the bed, and took a moment to shed his formal, human clothing and tweaked the triangle of his collar to envelope himself in his normal attire, before moving to follow.

-x-x-x-

Racing out of the room and down the hall, Natsuki skidded abruptly to a halt in front of the elevator. She felt her excitement rising, and she was blatantly letting her impatience get the better of her. She jabbed the call button a few times, and looked up at the little display to see where the car was – three floors below them.

Their room was on the fifth floor… Natsuki's grin got just a little wider as an idea came to her. She turned to look back at the room, and yes, here came Khi, trundling along at his usual pace, and wearing his alien suit now, she noted wryly; she _loved_ that thing, though she'd never tell him that – she could barely admit it to herself.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the number on the little display beginning to ascend, and right on cue, the doors peeled open but a moment after he arrived next to her, smiling away. He stepped in to the elevator – and looked confused when she did not. "Uhm… Natsuki-san—"

"Race ya to the bottom!" she yelled, and tore off in the direction of the stairwell, cackling like a lunatic. And before Khi could answer, or even comprehend, the elevator doors closed and the car began its descent.

As she burst through the stairwell door and narrowly avoided colliding with a bell boy on his way up, Natsuki thought about how she and Takaya-Onii-chan used to this all the time at the mall, and she always won – _always_. Tripping down the steps in twos and threes, she whooped at the top of her lungs in pure exhilaration. _This weekend is gonna be so cool,_ she thought, _DearScon is gonna rock!_

* * *

**Afterword_:_**

Well, that's it for the first chapter. Be sure to let me know what you think. It's going to take a while for us to chalk up another chapter, maybe a week or two, but keep checking back just in case. Until next time, peace out!


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER:  
The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. _Team Hydro_ and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. _Team Hydro_ does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.

* * *

DearScon! – Chapter 2

Natsuki stood near the cafeteria, a soda in her hand, and gazed down at the massive, crowded convention hall below her. The noise in the enclosed space was _deafening_. People and their children and groups of DearS were milling around, wandering between displays and chattering to one another. _Really,_ she thought, looking at the weird-and-wild hair styles and colours of the strange, revealing suits that the alien settlers wore. _It's like a freaking __**zoo**__ down there._

Even after her stunt with the elevators - yes, she'd beaten Khi to the bottom without so much as breaking a sweat; he seemed amused by the whole thing, but she could tell he didn't get the point – they'd still somehow managed to miss the opening ceremony, but if Oihiko was good for anything he'd have pictures – he'd _better_ have pictures…

And then Khi had gone and disappeared on her!

She'd _told_ him she was going to get a soda, she was _sure_ of it, but when she'd got back to the entrance where she'd left him, he was gone. She'd figured he'd gone to the bathroom or something, so she'd waited, but he didn't come back. So, wanting a better look at the place, and a decent vantage point to look out for him from, she'd climbed the stairs to the main cafeteria, which rested on a shelf of sorts above the floor on the left-hand side of the hall, and there she stayed, leaning on the rail overlooking the whole place.

But as she stared out over the crowd, no familiar faces leapt out at her, and she resigned herself to being an observer. Not that there wasn't plenty to look at, of course; the place was bustling, with all the usual confection and merchandise stands present; a few of which were actually run by DearS themselves, she noted, while some others were clearly directed at them – information outlets, trinkets and such, and one strange one near the entrance, with a huge sign above it that said 'Language Center'.

Now, Khi had explained this stand to her on the way in, before she'd gone off to get her damn stupid soda, and she had to admit that she found the concept intriguing. The basic idea was that, with so many attendees from so many countries, not all the DearS at the convention would be able to speak all of those different languages, and so the convention had set up this Language Center, so that should a DearS encounter a language they didn't know, they could approach the Center, absorb the language, and go on their merry way spouting a new lingo. It replaced the weirdy pod things they'd normally use, while they were here at the convention, according to Mr-I've-Dropped-Off-the-Planet…

Outwardly, she'd seemed mildly interested by it; inwardly she'd been amazed and just a little bit creeped-out. Everyone knew that DearS were the best linguists on the planet, but it was just damn _shocking_ to her that they might learn an entire new language on the fly like that. Oihiko must've wet himself when he'd seen it. She chuckled at the mental image that conjured, of the boy going all weak-at-the-knees over the very concept – the guy really was that much of a DearS-freak that he even gushed at how their planet was adapting its ways for their alien friends.

But, even so… said DearS-freak did have his occasional uses – 'occasional' being the keyword, of course. Once in a blue moon, she'd actually take in some of the facts he regularly spouted, and her odd, alien best friend would make a little more sense to her… and in making more sense of him, she often found herself more endeared to him… which irritated the crap out of her 'cause, dammit, she didn't _want_ to like him that way!

Silently she snarled to herself, and felt her hand clench into a fist around her empty soda can. It _crunched_ loudly, and she felt a little stab of pain in her palm where the metal grazed her skin; Natsuki ignored it, and kept right on sulking.

The female DearS sat a few tables away, though, couldn't.

Amida, sensitive as she was becoming, abruptly tore her attention from what her master was saying when she felt the stab of pain in her hand. She did not recoil as she might have done otherwise; it was an ethereal pain, afflicting someone else, and she did not wish to frighten her beloved master. He was quite happy to fuss her already; the bump wasn't showing yet, but it would soon enough – he had plenty to worry about, three weeks into her carriage of their soon-to-be little bundle of joy.

The pain had set her heart-sense blazing though, and she followed it to the person who had hurt themselves, turning in her seat to look behind her, her long violet her trailing across the hard white plastic. She felt her master looking up, intrigued by whatever had distracted her, and they spotted the girl at the same time – the cute pink hat she wore was somewhat hard to miss.

"Careful, Amida, don't get up so quickly," her master said, and she smiled inwardly at his concern. "You'll make yourself dizzy," He stood up and came to her, and helped her out of her seat; she wasn't quite the invalid he believed her to be – not yet, at least – but he was so very sweet…

"I'm fine, master, but that person has hurt herself…" she said absentmindedly, stepping lightly in the girl's direction. As she approached slowly, she observed the girl, and saw a little trickle of something drip-dripping down the rail from her hand. _She's… bleeding,_ Amida thought, and closed the gap between herself and the girl cautiously.

Eric watched warily as his companion approached the young girl near the balcony, and heard Amida address her in Japanese; it always amazed him how she seemed to just know what language people spoke… Of all the people here, from so many countries and with so many different languages, how did she _know_ this girl was Japanese? It baffled him, but not unpleasantly-so.

"_Sumimasen…o-genki desu ka?" _[Excuse me…are you alright?]

"…_hai…genki desu…" _[…yes…I'm fine…]

The girl answered stiffly, and Eric tensed a little. Unfazed, Amida pushed on.

"_Eigo de hanasemasu ka?" _[Can you speak English?]

"…_Yeah. Sorry…"_

Eric breathed a quiet sigh of relief when the girl seemed to be decent enough, though she had answered a little sharply at first… he hadn't understood a word of that conversation until the English came thorough, with a strained American accent no less, but after spending so much time with his DearS companion he seemed to get the gist whenever she spoke in a foreign language, almost as though there was more of a link between them than just their love for one-another.

Amida had asked if the girl was alright, and although she clearly wasn't (was she crying a little, there?), the girl had given the affirmative. Now, if he knew Amida even half as well as he thought he did, she wasn't going to have _any_ of that…

"Forgive me for being direct," he heard her say, "but it seems you're not alright… your hand is bleeding."

Natsuki looked up at the woman, noticing she was a DearS with blue eyes and striking violet hair, and stared at her for a moment as if she'd said something utterly bonkers – and then she looked at her hand, ignoring the crushed aluminium can as it clattered to the floor, just to make sure. "Bleeding…?" she muttered in her long-unused English, and noticed the shallow gash in the palm of her left hand for the first time, along with the throbbing pain that was stinging a little there. _Dammit…_ she thought, noticing the blood on the handrail, _how long've I been __**bleeding**__?_

She obeyed the urge to clench her fist again, _to pressurise the wound,_ she reasoned, and turned to the cafeteria counter before the concerned-looking DearS who'd alerted her to the fact could offer to do the weird healing thing they did, and asked for some help and a First Aid kit. She didn't want to go looking for the damn medical station on the other end of the hall… she knew where it was, but it'd take so damn long to get there through all those people, and she didn't want to risk running into Khi… last thing she needed right now was to do that – she didn't need _him_ cooing like a mother hen over a little blood.

_Khi's gonna have a fussdown when he sees this…_ she thought, and paused for a moment at the bitterness she was feeling – why was she feeling so damn _sour_ over a cut hand? _No… over __**him**__…_ she realised, and settled into a slouch as the first aider dragged a nasty-smelling, disinfectant-laden cotton ball over her cut-open palm; normally she'd have hissed at the stinging feeling, but right now she couldn't give a crap – she had other things on her mind.

_Shouldn't have come…this is gonna mess everything up…_ she thought, _Stupid Khi! Why's he gotta be so damn lovable? Ugh…_ She snarled again, gnashed her teeth a little and ignored the comforting words of the first aider who probably figured the cut was hurting, and was too busy bandaging her hand to notice that she was actually pissed at something else. But the DearS, now lurking concernedly in the back-ground with a foreign-looking guy draped around her waist… that'd be a different matter.

They could feel things, she knew; feelings, emotions, they could pick up on even the subtle little twinges people felt, and with the way she was feeling right now, she was half-surprised that every DearS in a 10-meter radius wasn't coming to see what was wrong with her. _That DearS is gonna wanna know what the hell's wrong,_ she thought solemnly, _and I'm gonna have to tell her, because she's gonna know if I lie… Ren and Miu always knew…and Khi… she might not pull me on it, but she'll know…_

And so, as the woman finished dressing her wound and packed up her first aid kit, gave her the usual speech that she should take better care blah-blah-blah, Natsuki carefully resigned herself to do some explaining, because these pesky aliens were a nosey bunch and this one didn't look like the type to let things lie, no, not that type at all… _Like Miu,_ she thought,_ she never let stuff go either… not like Khi…_

_Here we go,_ she thought, eyeing the couple carefully as they approached her. "_Watashi wa Amida to mōshimasu_," the DearS said, smiling, and repeated it in English with a strange accent that Natsuki didn't recognise, "My name is Amida. This is my master, Eric," she bowed, introducing the man with her, who followed her example. For some reason he reminded her of Nonaka Hiro-san, the love-rat from Onii-chan's school... maybe it was the hair... same style and colour, but longer, down to his waist, and in a ponytail...

"We're here from Europe," Amida stated, "Our apologies, but my master doesn't speak Japanese… Are you alright now?" she enquired carefully; this girl was a little fiery, she could tell, and she didn't want to upset her by saying the wrong thing… but she was already upset about something … and it was weighing on her oh-so-terribly…

"First aider said it's nothing serious… my hand will be fine…" Natsuki said in English, a little too candidly, before adding, "Thanks… I hadn't noticed it was bleeding." The three of them noticed an attendant wiping the handrail and spraying some disinfectant on the floor, and he quickly retreated behind the counter when he clocked them looking at him.

"Would you like to sit with us for a little while, perhaps?" Eric asked her politely, "You should probably rest for a few minutes,"

Numbly, Natsuki found herself agreeing, and as she walked to their table with them, she began to retreat back into her shell of contemplation… maybe they wouldn't ask her too much, and she wouldn't have to spill her guts to an alien and a total stranger. Then Amida caught her eye again, and she realised with a certain sense of defeat that, despite the good start this morning, it just wasn't going to be her day today – she wasn't going to get that lucky, and Amida-san, nice and well-meaning as she seemed, was _not_ going to let it drop.

Strangely enough, it was Eric who spoke first, after they'd seated themselves, and Natsuki ordered another soda; "So, what's a pretty thing like you doing here all by yourself?" he said, smiling. She'd have looked at it as a chat-up line from anyone else, and a pathetic one at that, but this guy was with a DearS – he was _with_ her, like her brother had been _with_ Ren – and so it probably hadn't been meant that way, so she gave him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was just one of those guys who liked to think he was charming.

"I'm with my best friend, actually…" she answered politely, but still a little introverted, "I lost him in the crowd. He's the DearS exchange student for my school. His name is Khi."

"Ah, Khi-san!" Amida smiled happily, "the Black Sheep of the Japanese community. Do you know Fina-sama then, perhaps?" She'd noticed the look in the girl's eyes change as she'd mention Khi-san's name… that involuntary glint… what did it remind her of…?

_She's fishin' for an angle,_ Natsuki thought, suddenly feeling a little paranoid, but replied the affirmative as her soda arrived, "I met her once, when my brother left with Ren and Io and the others--" and then, she realised, she'd told them _everything_ in that one sentence; who she was - who she was related to – who she _knew_. If she had been in less formal company, she'd have facepalmed.

_FAIL, Na-chan…_ she thought,_ EPIC fail! Now they're gonna go all space-colony-fanboy on me…_

In a flash of recognition, Amida realised who the girl sitting across the table from them was related to: she was the sister of Ren-sama's master, which meant…

"You are… Natsuki Ikuhara?" Amida quietly inquired, so as not to draw attention – there would be a riot if anyone nearby realised there was a semi-celebrity sitting across the table from them, and she could do without that; the stress might affect the baby. She watched as the girl nodded, eyes closed in understandable exasperation, before reaching into her pocket with her uninjured hand and sliding something across the table. It was a VIP convention pass, with her photograph on it. She was indeed Ikuhara Natsuki. _Stupid Khi and his diplomatic string-pulling…_ Natsuki thought. _Stupid VIP passes…_

Eric grinned, then pushed it back to her with a wink. "Secret's safe with us."

"Thanks…" she muttered, before adding mentally, _I think…_

"We have never met anyone who knew Io-sama and her community before they departed," Amida smiled cheerfully. "I would've liked to have met Ren-sama… to thank her for what she has given us…"

Natsuki looked at the DearS in puzzlement for a moment, and then noticed it – Amida's hand on her stomach… and the barely-noticeable swell of a baby-bump. Natsuki couldn't help but smile. "Congratulations," she told them both earnestly, and Eric grasped his companion's hand with a grin.

"She's… _we're_ three weeks in," he said, grinning like an idiot. "Average time for a DearS is five months, give or take a few days…"

"It happens more quickly for us," Amida put in, "For humans it is nine months… That is why there have been so many new DearS born in the last two years, and how our population has grown so quickly since Ren-sama became the Gate…"

"They grow quickly too," Eric explained, "The little ones, I mean. They're on their feet by the end of their first year, and they're talking almost as soon. Sometimes they even start talking _first_. Doesn't take away from the miracle, though…"

Natsuki nodded vigorously in agreement – a baby was a wonderful thing, and for a DearS mother, with a fair chunk of the last-remaining members of their race here on Earth, it would be even more special, she realised – Amida wasn't merely becoming a mother, she was helping to rebuild her people. _Damn… give 'em a few more years and we'll be over-run… sneaky aliens…_ she thought, laughing inwardly; the internal comment was void of her normal bitterness toward this sort of thing… it was a _good_ thing that the DearS were able to rebuild themselves here on Earth. After all, where _else_ were they going to do it?

Amida observed her master's mirth with a slight detachment, remembering the glimmer she had seen in Natsuki's eyes as she had discussed her friendship with Khi-san… because now she remembered where she had seen it before. It was here in her master's eyes, as he spoke so happily of their coming parenthood… it had been there in his eyes then, too, and no-doubt in her own, as she had bound them together with—

_Yes_…of _course_ it was. She recognised it now, it had been staring her in the face all this time; this girl positively _glowed_ with it, but she was refusing to acknowledge it. It was the greatest joy a DearS could imagine, and the greatest thing another being could ever receive from one of them: Natsuki was enveloped by the power of the Gift – _Khi's_ Gift.

Her hand reached toward the girl involuntarily, as though to touch that golden glow, and make her see it; Natsuki, somewhat confused by the gesture, took Amida's hand and squeezed it a little. And then she heard what Amida had said, under her breath: "_…have the… Gift…"_

Those whispered words spooked the crap out of her, and it took all she had to resist the urge to recoil from Amida's hand, because she knew what that meant – she knew what it _meant_, dammit, like it was the ringing in her ears and the light in her eyes every time she _looked_ at him, _spoke_ to him, _spent time_ with him.

It made her so damn _happy_ just being around Khi that she was sick with it. Anyone who was none-the-wiser would coo and congratulate her for falling in love, or spout something equally stupid, but Natsuki knew that DearS, any and all, loved everyone and everything unconditionally.

It was only when they felt drawn to someone and attached themselves to that person, _bonded_ to them… that was when a DearS felt what humans called love, in the way that humans _defined_ love between two people – and the DearS had a name for that bond, that ability to choose a master when they should be unable to make _any_ choices for themselves; they called it 'the Gift'. It was how Ren had come to live with her brother in the first place.

And for Amida to know, to _see_ that in _her_… that meant that she possessed the Gift, such as it were, like her brother had for Ren. But her Gift was for Khi…from Khi, like her brother's Gift had been from Ren. And that someone else could see it… that meant she couldn't deny it any more. And nothing, not even Takeya-Onii-chan getting _really_ mad with her, had ever made her so terrified in all her life.

Natsuki sat at the table, and _fought_ the urge to bolt for the hotel room. The DearS sat across the table from her was grinning at her like the sun shone out of her ass, and it was scaring her - but nowhere-near as much as what had just transpired. She felt herself shaking her head, an involuntary denial. But Amida was right, and the logical part of her screaming brain damn-well knew it. The rest of her wasn't willing to admit that yet, though, and therein lay the problem. _I'm not ready for this… __**sooo**__ really not ready for this yet…_ she thought, and gripped the edge of the table with her uninjured hand in an effort to resist the demand from her legs that she get up, slide her chair under the table, thank Amida and Eric for their company, and _flee_.

"Natsuki-san…" Eric caught her eye, leaned toward her, and put his hand over hers in an effort to comfort her. "Don't sweat it. Find a way to let him know, and the hard part's over. It's smooth sailing from there, right Amida?"

The DearS looked at her master and smiled, before wrapping herself around his outstretched arm and laying her head on his shoulder. Natsuki looked at the blissful pair, and felt doubt snapping at her nerves. They made it sound so easy… and _look_ easy too. But these things were never easy in practice, as she knew her brother and Ren had discovered the hard way. God knew she'd done her bit to make it difficult for them to be close… much as she regretted it, now that they were gone…

"But you must be careful…" Amida suddenly spoke up. "You must not leave it too long to speak what is in your heart… or it might go away,"

Natsuki nervously raised an eyebrow in interest. "Go… away…?" Those nerves were suddenly feeling hopeful – that was exactly what the doubtful half of her wanted, for it to go away.

"Yes. But you mustn't let it… or it might not come back… and we DearS can only experience the Gift once in our lifetimes. Or, so says the legend…"

The runaway freight train charging around in Natsuki's brain crashed to a halt at that; she had been panicking, no question about it. But as much as a part of her wanted what she was feeling for Khi to go away, at least until she was _ready_ for what her brother and Ren had… but what if it never came back? Did she _want_ to take that risk, and never know? It would be a long-term thing, that was what scared her most – that her first major relationship was going to be a _life-long_ commitment – because that's what the Gift was, as she understood it. Who wouldn't balk at that? But it was Khi - would that be so _bad?_

And she could get over the space-alien thing without so much as trying, she _knew_ she could; he was her best friend, for crying out loud! He'd spent more time at the apartment since Takeya-Onii-chan had left than he had when her brother had been _living_ there, and the place had been a DearS magnet then, with China and then Io staying there...

_What'd Mom and Dad think—_ That tossed her off-kilter again, just as she was starting to get to grips with it, and the freight train let go of the brakes. "He's my best friend…I don't wanna…_hurt_ that. What if something goes wrong? Next to my parents, he's all I have left of my brother…"

"All the more reason, then," Eric smiled. "Surely it'd make you both so much happier. It made _us_ happier… Why not just close the gap?"

_They don't get it… it's not that simple…_ Natsuki thought, and shook her head in frustration. _They're just too damn __**happy**__ to see how badly it could all go wrong…_ "…Need to go back to my room…" she muttered, "I need to clear my head and do some thinking…" Amida and Eric rose with her as she stood up, and she slowly tucked her seat under the table, before bowing politely, wishing them luck in their parenting and thanking them for their advice.

Amida waved lightly when she looked over her shoulder at them. Part of her hoped she would meet them again before the convention was over; they were nice people, and they meant well, but the other part, the part that was still screaming at her to flee and never look back, hoped she'd never see their smiling faces again.

As she descended the stairs and headed for the entrance plaza, a familiar face waved and shouted to her nearby – it was Oihiko, still with his damn camera in his hand and grinning like the moron that he was.

"Natsuki-san! This place is wild, huh? There are so many DearS here! Some of the stalls are great, and the opening ceremony was amazing— oh, you hurt yourself…"

"Shut _up_, Oikawa! I'm not in the mood for you! Go chase space-tail or something, before I stick your stupid camera where the sun doesn't shine!"

She snapped at him as she stormed passed on her way to the stairs, and shoved him out of her way. She ignored his indignant shouts as he almost dropped said camera; she was going to regret that later, when she'd cleared her head and took the spin out of the damn fog of confusion that was swirling around in her head. But right now, she couldn't focus enough to give a rat's ass – right now, ignorance was bliss.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Reloaded the chapter to amend some minor spelling mistakes. Unfortunately, I forgot to tailor in my original author's notes before I replaced the chapter... Yeah, I'm an idiot... ^_^;;


	3. Chapter 3

Finally finished the extension on this, took a while to get just right so it lined up with what's to come. It's only a thousand or so more words, but I think it does the trick. So, eventually, I give you DearScon! chapter 3, Extended Edition.

**DISCLAIMER:**

**The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. _Team Hydro_ and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. _Team Hydro_ does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.**

* * *

DearScon! – Chapter 3

The two DearS sat opposite one-another in a state of intense concentration. Khi contemplated the Chess board before him with uncertainty; it was the first Earth game he had learned to play, and it remained one of his favourites; alas, he was loosing badly to his new friend.

Natsuki-san would be upset with him for abandoning her – leaving her in the lurch, as she would say – but the opportunity to meet his counterpart in the new American community was simply too good to pass up; Rubi-sama would be most unhappy with him if he had ignored an opportunity to forge international relations with the American Black Sheep.

And to that end, he had approached the DearS called Rai, greeted him, and had accepted his gracious offer of a simple game of Chess. A game that, since, had proven quite far from simple; the American DearS was of a well-learned intellect, possessed a cool head and was an excellent strategist – traits that had clearly graced him with his current position in the American community. Khi considered his next move carefully; he would have to act quickly, or he would lose yet another piece.

"Khi-san, we should take a break," Khi's opponent said, his English thick with the accent of the city of Boston, where the American community was based. "Another milkshake, maybe? This one's on me."

Khi nodded absent-mindedly, still considering his next move, before raising his gaze and relaxing into his comfortable chair, averting his eyes from the board; Rai's strategy, whatever it would prove to be, was most perplexing. It wouldn't hurt to take a break from their game for a moment, and give his racing mind a chance to rest and regroup. "Thank you, Rai-san," he smiled, "You are most kind."

Khi regarded his friend carefully; Rai wore a tailored gray suit, sporting cufflinks resembling a DearS collar encircling a flapping American flag – the symbol of the American DearS community. His convention pass hung carefully from the breast pocket of his jacket, baring the same symbol below the similar logo of the DearScon convention, a DearS collar encircling the circumference of the Earth. Rai's tailored human garments were immaculate; Khi felt somewhat out-of-place wearing his own formfitting bodysuit, though the reason for that bewildered him a little.

Rai's hair, too, was very different to his own; the electric blue colour was quite striking, even for a DearS, and Khi did wonder how his friend had managed to get away with bleaching his unusual, lightning bolt shaped antennae-hair white. It was eccentric to say the least, and quite amusing; along with the three black, loop-like earrings adorning his upper left ear, one might say Rai could be considered somewhat rebellious.

"My mistress, Lucy, encourages me to experiment with my appearance," Rai said, noticing that his unique decorations had caught Khi's attention. "She thought it would be a social freedom that I might enjoy taking part in, and I'm happy to agree with her, though I must limit it when on official business. Kimiko-sama, our Barker thinks the concept is refreshing, though she does not actively encourage it, as you can imagine."

Khi nodded, and accepted a strawberry milkshake from their waiter; indeed, it was quite unusual for a Barker to allow one of her charges to break away from the norm like this, particularly a DearS in such an important position as that of the Black Sheep, but he could see it being thought of as acceptable, considering that Rai was merely appeasing the desires of his mistress.

As Khi moved to set down his milkshake, a sudden, sharp pain stabbed into his empty hand, and he clenched it shut impulsively before carefully placing the glass on the table so as not to drop it. The realisation that Natsuki-san had hurt herself was both glaringly obvious and at the same time equally mystifying.

"Natsuki-san…" he breathed her name; she was hurt, and for some reason, that made his skin crawl; it made him sad. Khi clutched at the phantom injury as if it were his own. _I should be with her…_ he thought bitterly, _she has hurt herself and I should be there with her…_

"Forgive me Rai-san, but I think perhaps we should finish our game later—"

Khi looked up to see the utter astonishment on his friend's face, and wondered what had shocked him.

"Khi-san… your hand is glowing… you are bound?" Rai enquired incredulously.

Khi slowly shook his head, feeling rather confused at the bright, luminous yellow glow of the phantom gash in the palm of his hand. This was most unusual. "I do not have a master as such, Rai-san… I serve my community, but I am not bound, as you are."

"And yet you possess a connection nonetheless… Khi-san, you bare the burden of an unrequited Gift. Are you aware of this?"

The mention of the word 'Gift' solidly caught Khi's attention, and he averted his eyes in a way that might easily be mistaken for shame. "I… had my suspicions, I will admit. But it is not as simple as one might think, Rai-san, when this Gift… this feeling… may not be what it appears, regardless of how I feel it pulling me."

Khi looked up, and Rai caught what he thought was a hint of desperation in his friend's eyes.

"Miu-san would be sad, I am sure," Khi continued, quite seriously, "if I failed to learn from her mistakes… she would be quite disappointed, I think. Tell me, Rai-san, how you can be so sure that what I am experiencing is the Gift, and not… something else."

"You mean what humans call love, yes? The two things are remarkably similar, I will admit, and we DearS easily confuse them for one-another," Rai said rather matter-of-factly.

"But there are fundamental differences between our Gift and the feeling of Love. The Gift is an unconditional attraction that seems at first to have no real basis – we simply feel drawn to the person to which the Gift links us. It is an instinctive pull on our heart-sense, telling the DearS who is affected that they have found the person who is best able to care for them. How the link itself forms is quite inexplicable, our Watchers know it best, and even then, they don't understand it nearly as well as the Sheep-slaves who experience it. From my own experience, it seems to form in quite a random fashion…"

"But it would be quite obvious if it was love, I can assure you," Rai continued, regarding Khi's incredulousness with some mild amusement. "You would be clumsy and your behaviour would become quite foolish. I have witnessed this in both humans and DearS alike. Would you say that your behaviour has become so?"

Khi shook his head, slowly beginning to make sense of his predicament – Rai was speaking sense.

"I can tell you then, quite categorically, that what you are experiencing is not love. Moreover, you would not have felt Natsuki-san's pain if it was merely love – at least not as strongly as you experienced it. You wouldn't have known that it was _her_ pain you were experiencing. And you knew, didn't you? You just _knew_."

Khi nodded once, a look of pure amazement upon his face. Rai leaned across their table, as if his closeness would drive home his point.

"It is the Gift, Khi-san, and you know that. You knew that before we began this conversation. There is some interference in your connection to Natsuki-san, I think, and that is what is confusing you so. The link between the two of you is likely one-sided."

Rai reclined in his chair, apparently having made his point. "But the link is there nonetheless. You feel the Gift pulling you to her – you recognise that something is telling you that you need her, or you would not be so unsure; that the link is incomplete does not help make this any clearer for you. Go to her, speak with her. Reaching an understanding with Natsuki-san may complete the link between you; you might feel the need to bind yourself to her – do not refuse the urge, should it come to you; to do so would hurt you. If she is accepting of you, all the better, and if not, the link between you will cause her to come around, given time. That is simply the way the Gift works."

Khi lowered his gaze, stared at the glowing, unbroken skin of his palm and wondered why he had been so confused as to not realise any of this himself. "You say our Watchers understand the Gift best, Rai-san, and yet you seem to know so much about it yourself." He said, grinning solemnly. Rai shook his head; he did not agree. "There is a difference between instinctive understanding and clear-cut knowledge, Khi-san,"

Rai sat up somewhat in his chair, as if to reclaim Khi's attention. "I understand something of the Gift because I have experienced it, and continue to experience it every day; it is a feeling that is difficult to describe, and equally troubling to articulate. The Watchers _know_ the Gift, because they oversaw entire generations of Sheep slaves across which they could observe it in many colonies on many worlds. They collected the facts, and came to know what made the Gift tick, as it were… The older Biters are often very adept at recognising it in others, too. As I understand it, you were present when Xaki-sama indentified Ren-sama's link with Ikuhara Takaya as the Gift, were you not?"

Rai stopped when Khi nodded, and took a sip of his own drink, barely touched through the course of their chess game. "My point is that the Watchers came to understand the Gift over time, by knowing it as intimately as every DearS who understands it by experiencing it. Those facts that they gathered, as our race first moved from one host to another, and another, and then eventually as our numbers declined and our communities perished during the war, slowly became ingrained in our lore, and became known to us, generations down the line, as the legend of the Gift."

The American DearS leaned forward again, to catch Khi's eye, to ensure that his Japanese counterpart understood his point with the utmost clarity. "The Watcher _knows_ by possessing the facts, and by their ability to observe us, Khi-san, and the Sheep _understands_ by instinct. Do you see?"

Slowly, Khi nodded, Rai's words making it all remarkably clear to him. Even if he couldn't grasp it yet, his friend's words rang with a deep-seated truth in his mind. No doubt he would understand it later, he heard Rai say, but in truth he was only barely paying attention now; though the glowing of his palm had dimmed to near-nothingness, the strange sensation was still there, stronger now that he was more aware of it, as though a silken ribbon encircling his heart-sense was being softly tugged. He concentrated harder, suppressing the urge to leap to his feet and allow it to pull him along…

Rai reached across the table and prodded him in the shoulder, startling him. "Go, Khi-san. The link is becoming stronger, I think, and now that you have acknowledged it, it will bother you until you answer its call. Indeed, it might drive you to distraction if you do not, which would be decidedly unwise for your long-term health."

Khi jolted suddenly, as if stung; Natsuki-san was becoming anxious, very anxious…as thought she wanted to flee from something… his heart-sense told him she was in no immediate danger – in fact, she was just now leaving the company of good, pleasant, caring strangers – but she wished to run nonetheless. They were making her nervous…

_Find her. NOW!_

His heart-sense screamed at him, set his skin a-crawl as though smothered in an army of ants, and he had every intention of obliging. But he would do so _without_ panicking, and he would seek her out in a calm, collected manner, as opposed to leaping to his feat and dashing back to where he had left her. Natsuki-san would not appreciate his becoming unduly flustered, and so he resolved to remain calm.

Khi reached out for his milkshake, finished it quickly, and then got carefully to his feet, before bowing to Rai-san, who rose and returned the gesture, before reaching out to shake his hand, an Earth custom that the DearS had adopted almost immediately upon their acceptance into Human culture, as they had with many other Earth customs as new colonies sprang up in new countries and DearS became citizens in them.

Khi shook Rai's hand gratefully, promised to continue their game when next they met, and thanked his friend for his advice. Rai reached into his pocket and fished out a card containing details by which Khi might reach him, and Khi quickly wrote down his own details, before they parted with smiles – Rai bright and encouraging, Khi weary and yet so eager to find the one to whom he felt so curiously, inexplicably drawn.

--

After 20 minutes of searching, Khi had come up empty. His heart-sense screamed at him still, insistent that he find Natsuki post-haste, if only that he be within arm's reach of her. What he would do if he found her and the dull, persistent ache continued, he did not know; he couldn't do as Rai had suggested and simply bind himself to her, long-term health be damned; she would hate him for doing it without her consent, he was sure, and that might well spell the end of him.

Moreover, it was not so simple a matter here on Earth as it had been on other worlds, to bind oneself to another and be done with it; there were stringent social standards that had to be observed, and Fina-sama was most insistent that these 'rules' be obeyed. In many ways, Ren-sama had only gotten away with binding herself to Ikuhara-sama because her own dysfunctions, social and otherwise, rendered her ignorant of these rules, and so she was deemed not at fault. In the end, it had been those very dysfunctions that had proven a saving grace for DearS and humans alike.

But the matter of her binding herself without prior consent had still been frowned upon by some, of course; Rubi-sama in-particular had been _most_ displeased. Oikawa-san had once described her, he recalled, as being "epically-pissed" about it, and thereafter Fina-sama had frequently cautioned all DearS who felt the Gift pulling at them to seek her counsel before acting in any way.

Of course, that made little difference to him right now – Fina-sama was effectively beyond his immediate reach, and by the time they returned to Koharu, he could not be sure what the state of the situation would be…

Idly, he wandered through the crowd, keeping a keen eye peeled for Natsuki all the while; for a moment he thought he'd found her when he spied her trademark hat, but alas, it wasn't her, and his heart sank a little further. What he did find instead, however, quickly gave him cause to hope; as he rounded a corner and found himself near the Language Center, a familiar voice caught his ear as he began to wonder how he'd ended up so near the lobby when he was sure he'd been looking elsewhere.

"Aww come on, boot up already, stupid camera! Not like you hit the floor _that_ hard… Stupid Natsuki…"

It was Oikawa-san, of course, muttering something to himself about his camera. _Oh, dear… he does like getting himself into trouble,_ Khi thought, a small smile creeping onto his face, and approached the boy to see if he could help. "Are you having some trouble, Oikawa-san?" He asked, startling the angry-looking boy.

"Khi, there you are! I was looking all over for you. That nutcase Natsuki went and knocked my camera outta my hand… it hit the floor and now it won't come back on… Hope I don't have to get it repaired, I don't think my convention fund will cover it… maybe the battery is loose…"

The boy fiddled with the device, turning it over and sliding open a compartment; Khi jumped in surprise as a small, flat something flew out in his direction from under the plastic door, and panicked a little as it bounced off his shirt. He fumbled to catch it, and only just managed before it could hit the floor. Apparently, the battery was more than just loose, after all. Oihiko thanked him profusely when he handed back the wayward power cell, and sighed with relief when the camera quickly booted up again.

"You say you saw Na-chan, Oikawa-san? Where did she go?" Khi asked as the boy began flipping through the photographs he'd taken – most of them were of DearS, Khi noticed, and female DearS at that - making sure that none had been deleted by the sudden accident. Oihiko looked up at his alien friend, and seemed to become vaguely annoyed at the mention of Natsuki; he also noted somewhat wryly that Khi didn't seem to have noticed his offhand use of that particular honorific – one he hardly ever used to refer to Natsuki when she wasn't present to insist upon it. Maybe…

The strange, almost haunted look in Khi's eye mystified the boy for a moment, but a beeping coming from the camera distracted him, and redirected his train of thought back onto to its former track. "Yeah, she nearly trashed my damn camera when she stormed past me," he said, "She just screamed at me and flew up the stairs, probably gone to your room. I'd give her a wide berth, if I were you… She's a real loose cannon when she loses her temper…"

"I should probably go up and see if I can't calm her down… I need to speak with her…" Khi muttered, eager to be off now that he knew where Natsuki was.

"I hope it's worth tangling with her, Khi, 'cause you couldn't pay _me_ to head up there and talk to her after that… whatever it is, you're on your own, pal," Oikawa replied, shifting from one foot to the other nervously.

He wanted to help Khi, he really did, but when it came down to it this was Takaya's sister – his notoriously-difficult-to-handle-sister who could wrestle like nobody's business – and he knew better than to put himself in her way when she was annoyed about something. He'd made that mistake once today already, however unwittingly, and sure-as-hell wasn't going to do it a second time if he could help it; he liked his head where it was, thank you very much.

"I understand, Oikawa-san," Khi said, smiling, "There are a lot of strange people here, and she's probably feeling a little stressed; I'm sure she'll apologise when she's feeling better. Natsuki-san is a good person really… she just gets a little unwieldy when she's unhappy."

"'Ch… No shit, Khi… Tries too hard to be like her brother, that's her problem…"

At that, Khi bid him a good day, before moving off to catch the next elevator to their floor of the hotel; he thought of Oihiko as a good friend, but the boy was prone to going off on a tangent, and he was feeling more than a little pressed to catch up with Natsuki.

When the elevator eventually arrived, he couldn't get in fast enough, and jabbed the button for their floor so hard that he almost bruised his finger. It was at this point that he noticed his hands were shaking, and began regulating his breathing to calm himself down; it would not do him any good for Natsuki-san to think he was on the verge of some kind of panic attack, no good at all…

* * *

A/N

I tweaked the scene with Rai and Khi some, not so much that it's glaringly obvious, but there's a few more lines in there, and a little more detail, I hope.

The rest is a mix of stuff originally intended for the start of Chapter 4 (which has now been altered some, but not so much that it affects the overall story), and some new stuff that came to me as I was writing it; the thing with the camera was a new idea, but the overall framework of meeting with Oihiko in the lobby was originally meant for the very beginning of Chapter 4, and was originally just meant to be a snatched conversation as Khi passed by.

One of my team-mates suggested that Oihiko seemed like more of a bit-part instead of a character, so I fleshed out his role a little and gave him a slightly larger role, in terms of his presence, as a plot device - better that than him just 'being there' in the background. Oihiko will show up once more, in Chapter 6, much to Khi's embarrasment...

Reviews would be nice, but we all know readers only do them when they feel in the right mood; I'd like to see some, but they're not essential -- y'gets the picture.

Catch you on the flipside, people!


	4. Chapter 4

New chapter! Yay! :3 This took forever to get right... and even now I'm not entirely sure I achieved the effect I meant to convey...

Oh well, give it a whirl and decide for yourself.

**DISCLAIMER:**

**The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. _Team Hydro_ and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. _Team Hydro_ does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.**

* * *

DearScon! – Chapter 4

The suite was quiet when Khi unlocked the door and entered the room. The silent journey of the elevator's ascent had proven most calming; the hotel had disabled the background noise normally considered 'elevator music' for the convention, as it tended to irritate younger DearS, upsetting them; personally, Khi found it mildly annoying, but ultimately tolerable. The ride to their floor had also been very useful for refocusing himself on the task at hand; better to be cool-headed than panicking.

"Natsuki-san?" he called out as he looked around the suite, but no answer came, and as he scanned the room he noticed it was mostly untouched since they'd left earlier. Natsuki's things were strewn on the floor at the foot of the fold-out couch in a strange, organised kind of chaos that was uniquely Natsuki-like; it gave him the impression that she'd risen quickly from her seat and scattered them in her haste. _She… ran away?_

There were other signs too, that the room had recently been vacated before, or perhaps upon, his arrival; there was a half-glass of water next to where Natsuki had obviously been sitting, miraculously un-spilled, and a large jug resting on a footstool nearby that was almost empty. The space she'd been occupying, surrounded by the possessions she'd brought with her, was tiny, cramped, as though she had been curled on the floor, rather than sitting…

_Something's not right…_Khi thought, and briefly dipped into the bathroom before checking the bedroom; both were empty. So, where had she gone? Khi shook his head and sighed in exasperation. _She can make things so _difficult_ sometimes,_ he thought, feeling a sense of mild amusement tinged by worry, and closed his eyes.

It had been a long time since he'd tried this technique last, having been forced to use it once to find Nia's hiding place onboard the ship, after she'd fled from a particularly-harsh beating from Rubi-sama, and it had proven difficult to do at the time. But his earlier conversation with Rai-san had proven inspirational at the very least, and he was confident that it would work if the link between himself and Natsuki was indeed strengthening.

He settled into a slow, rhythmic pattern of breathing that quickly fell in-step with the beat of his heart, in with one set of twin beats and out with the next, rinse-and-repeat, before he breathed out once, heavily, and waited in silence. The tiny, returning sound he was searching for came to him slowly – another heartbeat, and as it grew louder in his ears, it occurred to him that it was no mere pitter-patter but thundering like a bullet train, _badump-badump-badump-badump_…

It was the thrumming of a heart whose owner was silently panicking. The source was very near, a few arms' lengths perhaps, but he stood and waited nonetheless; she knew he was here, and he was waiting to see if she would appear of her own accord.

She wouldn't of course, Natsuki was far too stubborn to give up so easily, he knew this from experience, but he did wonder; was this a game of some kind, perhaps, or was she genuinely hiding from him, and if she _was_ hiding, why? What had she done to be so ashamed of—

_Shame_, he realised suddenly, the feeling blazing ever-stronger across the link once he recognised it, _she feels ashamed… and embarrassed. By the Watcher, why does she feel so ashamed? …What did I do?_

It was his first instinct to question his actions, as it was for every DearS; he knew he hadn't _done_anything, but it was a gut reaction, nigh-on irrepressible, and perhaps moreso for himself than most. His position in the community demanded as such, and under normal circumstances it was most helpful to check himself when his instinct suggested he do so.

This time he ignored it, though, and grasped mentally for the sound of the heartbeat like a guideline with his heart-sense, and stepped toward it. Opening his eyes, he found himself standing before the closet door, and as he reached for the handle, he heard a tiny, stifled catching of breath inside. _Top shelf,_ his heart-sense told him, _curled up in the back corner. So that's where she's hiding. But, why?_

His own heart rate suddenly accelerated to match hers, his brow becoming damp as he gently slid back the door on its track, and he said softly, "Natsuki-san… why are you hiding from me?" His question was met by silence, except for the pounding of their hearts in his ears, beating in synchrony now. He could just see her, over the top of her suitcase, laying still on her side with her back to him; she had placed the case between herself and the door of the closet, like some sort of makeshift wall behind which she could hide away. He tried his luck again, hoping for a response.

"If I did something to upset you, then I'm sorry…"

"Go away…" came her hoarse, sharply-whispered reply, "Leave me alone."

"Natsuki-san, if you tell me what is wrong, I'm sure I can help you. Please, let me help—"

"Go _away_, Khi. I _mean_ it." she snapped at him this time, irritation and embarrassment evident in her voice. She was struggling with something beneath the cloud of anger, he decided, and he wasn't sure he liked the flavour of it as it flowed across their link.

"I'm afraid I must insist, Natsuki-san. I can't help you if you won't tell me what's--AHH!!!" He cried out, startled by her kicking the suitcase at him, and he tumbled to the floor as she bowled him over while making her escape.

"Leave me alone, dammit!!" she yelled, and flew straight into the bathroom as Khi picked himself up to move after her; alas, just as he reached the door, she drew the bolt and locked herself in. He heard himself let slip a mild curse in his native tongue under his breath, and straightened himself up indignantly. Cornering her in the closet had been, in retrospect, a step entirely too far in the wrong direction, and he berated himself for being so foolish as to not see it.

It would be a fair while before she would come out now, he realised, but in the meantime, he could keep trying; there was little else to do at this point, and he certainly wasn't going to leave her in this distraught state to go back down to the convention by himself. Whatever had been troubling her beforehand, he had only exacerbated it, made the situation worse, and so he resolved now to wait it out as best he could. She would speak to him eventually, he was sure; she always did, and he need only wait.

"Natsuki-san… something is troubling you and I want to help you, but I need you to _let_ me. Please, tell me what is wrong…" he implored her, but to no avail; his plea was met only with silence. Quietly he resigned to wait, stepped to the side of the door and seated himself next to the frame, back against the wall and knees drawn up to his chest. She would have to come out eventually, he reasoned, and she would find him waiting; perhaps by that time she would have calmed herself enough to explain it all to him.

--

Inside the bathroom, behind the locked door, Natsuki sat against the glass door of the shower unit, knees drawn up, head laid against them, wrapped in the relative protection of her arms. Slowly she clenched and unclenched a fist and clenched it again, and stomped hard on the urge to punch something. Dammit, why wouldn't he leave her alone?!

How could she have let him see her like that, cowering in the closet like a pathetic _child?_And now she was doing it again… in the bathroom of all places… what would Amida think of her now, with all her smiling and advice…? Fine advice too, when the first thing to come out of her mouth in response to his offer of help was a thinly-veiled threat…

_Now he probably hates me,_ she thought… but no… no, he didn't, a part of her whispered, with an air of such certainty that she was reluctant to ignore it. Wishful thinking perhaps, but she found it strangely-reassuring…

_Natsuki-san…_

She could almost hear his voice, like he was whispering ever-so-softly in her ear, and she shuddered with a small, sweet chill at the thought him being so close, his breath tickling her neck…

Sharply she shook her head, and the feeling went away, briefly. Not yet, not yet… she wasn't ready for that yet, not even _remotely_, but she needed it all the same, to feel the sensations of his hands gliding on her skin, whispering her name… _Stop-stop-STOP IT_, she thought,_ just __**stop**__!_ But it wouldn't, of course, because now the freight train was rumbling along in her mind again, picking up speed and barrelling unstoppably toward a new destination …

And he would be there, waiting, in her mind's eye, at the end of the line. Because Khi _was_ the destination, and so help her, the damn brakes were broken and the throttle was jammed on 'full' and it was entirely her own doing. _This is it,_ she thought to herself desperately, _this is where you've been headed all along, can't stop now, and dammit-all he's waiting outside that stupid door and he's not gonna go away, nuh-uh, not on your damn life…_ She knew that suddenly, that he was waiting outside, just to the left of the door, and if she were to get up and open that door she would practically fall over him…

_Fall for him_… her mind muttered, reinventing the words into something she hadn't intended, and she slapped it down, stamped it flat and kicked it clean to the other side of the planet but it'd be back again in no-time, creeping up on her and whispering those traitorous thoughts to her and sooner or later she'd start believing them, because in-truth she already did and she just didn't want to admit it yet.

_Can't admit it to yourself then who _can_ you admit it to,_ it whispered again, _'cause_ _you like him, dammit, and you want him so bad it hurts to think about it so you don't, but eventually… eventually you're gonna have to face it, 'cause it'll die if you don't and god-dammit, you are _**not**_ gonna let that_ _happen!_

Entirely on autopilot she rose to her feet and stepped in the direction of the door; what she'd do when she opened it, exactly, her raging hormones still hadn't quite decided, but she'd cross that bridge when she—

_What if he doesn't want me?_ The doubting half, the half of her that usually made the most logical sense that had momentarily been shoved to the wayside, roared back to the forefront of her mind, screaming like a banshee, and it put an imaginary shotgun to her libido with the threat of pulling the trigger. The effect was instantaneous, and her burst of resolve fizzled erratically, beginning to sag.

_What if I'm doing something stupid… he'll think I'm an idiot… a bigger idiot than he probably already thinks I am… _Steadily, one shuffling step backward at a time, she retreated from the door. Her hand had been mere millimetres from the thumb lock, fingertips still all atingle in waylaid anticipation…

Slowly she placed her hands on the edge of the basin, her resolve crumbling as she reached for the cold tap and twisted softly. Her rational side was reasserting itself, and it insisted that a face-full of icy water would force her to resume the process of generating clear thought – the first poignant product of which was that she did _not,_in any capacity, desire Khi to be her slave. The very word was synonymous with images she considered vile and inhumane, and her sense of morality went utterly berserk at the thought of her turning her best friend into a prisoner of her will – her slave.

Twisting back on itself, the same part of her dredged up the flood of information that had become public knowledge in the wake of her brother's departure: the DearS were, on the most fundamental level, a _slave race;_ they were psychologically and biologically tuned to serve the needs of others as a _species_.

In terms of their survival, the point was moot: they bound themselves, both individually and as a species, to others in servitude in order to live and thrive. Their entire species, from the Sheep-types like Ren and Miu and Khi to the Dog-types like Fina and Xaki and even that lunatic Rubi, could not survive, couldn't _live_ without the constant presence of someone to provide for, to give to, regardless of exactly _what_ they were asked to give. They were genetically conditioned to serve the needs of a _master_.

And why? Because their kind, put simply, thrived on their ability to make that master happy. The DearS were a symbiotic race that willingly enslaved themselves to others in return for the stream of positive emotional feedback – positive emotions that, when directed at them, made them healthy and strong and allowed them to keep on _living_.

She remembered back to what was now referred to universally as 'the photographer incident', when a press photographer had caused outrage with his mistaken claim that he'd witnessed a DearS – Miu – attempting to 'murder' her homestay host in his hospital bed. The national outrage that resulted, the outpouring of negative emotion directed at them almost proved genocidal for the entirety of the DearS population on the face of the planet.

When the truth came out, of course, everyone felt _very_stupid for a very long time, but that had been quickly overwhelmed by the sense of relief that not one single DearS had been lost, despite the bout of chronic illness that had struck every DearS nationwide like a bullet. The aliens themselves recovered with amazing speed once the flow of positive emotions returned, like their very lifeblood had been turned back on.

…_Am I poisoning him right now, thinking like this? Am I…hurting him?_she wondered, and resisted the urge to press her ear to the door, to listen for the erratic, heavy breathing that Nia's condition during that time had etched into her memories – breathing that still gave her nightmares, knowing what it meant. _God, please don't let me hurt him… I couldn't live with myself if I did…_

Slowly she reached down into the water with her uninjured hand and brought the cold liquid to her face, let it slip over her skin, and began to think, clearly and concisely, about what she wanted. Pulling the plug and turning off the faucet, she dried her face with the fluffy white towel next to the basin and stepped over to the door – not to open it, but to sit next to it. She wasn't ready to open it yet.

He was still sitting out there, she knew;_ how_ she knew was something she couldn't quite fathom yet, but she knew nonetheless, and she felt the sudden urge to sit with him in spirit, back-to-back in the way they'd often done at school in the summer months of the year before, out on the little patch of grass beside the running track. The thought brought pleasant memories to mind; sunshine, white clouds, blue sky that she'd happily spend hours with him staring at.

She'd sat with him once at night, too, on the roof of the apartment, where he'd spent the better part of an hour explaining to her how different the stars looked when you were out among them, how there were so many countless more than could be seen from the surface of the Earth. She treasured that memory along with a hundred others, a thousand others of time well-spent in his company, and realised that, at this moment, she wanted nothing more in the whole damn world than _to be with him._

It occurred to her that achieving that would mean enslaving him, that from his perspective she would become his Master, and he her slave, and all would be right with his world – and she didn't care what her sense of 'morality' felt about that, because she wanted to be with him, and if that's what it took…

_Like Onii-chan and Ren… and Amida and her master…_ she thought, and found herself vaguely surprised that the idea didn't trouble her nearly half as much as she thought it would, which was to say, it didn't trouble her _at all_.

Her brother had never wanted a slave either, and had refused to consider Ren as such regardless of the way others, including herself, had reacted toward him when Ren became ditzy enough in front of other people to remind everyone of her self-proclaimed status, often to Takaya's chagrin.

Ren was proud of the fact, because it meant she was fulfilling the role she'd been born for - or attempting to fulfil it, when Onii-chan became too flustered by her clumsy advances to know what to do with her. In the end, it was his acceptance of their master-slave relationship, and of her love for him, that had given the DearS a chance at a future, and humanity a second chance to prove itself a host capable of aiding their rejuvenation.

_She was so proud… would Khi be proud, too?_ She found herself hoping so, but ultimately it seemed inconsequential to whether or not he would want her.

And that was the question: would he accept her? What if he refused her?

_But he won't…_ the feeling that had been urging her toward him all along assured her, insistent that he would accept her; that he would be happy to be with her, to serve her… that he would do _anything_ to please her and all she had to do was _ask_. And as much as she had been reluctant to admit it for as long as she had felt this weird sensation pulling her toward him, it nonetheless felt so _right_ to accept that that was what she wanted.

_I want him,_she said to herself flatly, matter-of-factly, like it was the simplest decision in the world to make, _and it's time that I faced that—_

A sudden shuffling noise behind her shook her from her reverie; it shocked her to realise that Khi had gotten up, and was… going… to bed? Yes, he was going to bed. How she arrived at that conclusion baffled her once again, but she knew it to be a fact all the same. What it meant, though, was just as shocking to her: in all the time they had been friends, she had never known Khi to leave a problem half dealt-with.

She knew him to sit up all night tackling the same set of math equations over and over until he utterly shattered them and could run through them off the top of his head – he did not _ever_ walk away from a problem. So… why was he leaving her to her own devices in the bathroom? How come?

Outside the bathroom, Khi slowly rose up from his seat next to the door and stretched his aching joints, aiding his movements with just a flicker of gravity manipulation, gently relieving the pressure of his own weight until the blood circulation returned to his numbed limbs, so he could avoid the unpleasant tingling sensation he would experience otherwise. He had noticed how dark it had gotten outside without him realising, the brightly-lit night of Tokyo Bay rolling in thickly.

He had worn himself down, so much so that Natsuki might say he was 'running on fumes', and now his tightly-wound body clock was demanding that it was time for sleep. So focused had he been on the empathic link, steadily growing ever-stronger between himself and Natsuki, that now he was only just barely conscious, enough to be falling asleep for scant moments before snapping awake again.

Solemnly, and with great reluctance he resolved to leave his post for a few hours' rest, and check back later to make sure that Natsuki had left her makeshift panic room for some rest of her own.

If he awoke in a while and found that she had not come out, had fallen asleep hiding in the bathroom, he would simply displace the door lock, retrieve her, and put her to bed – but not before she had been given a chance to come out of there on her own. She had some issues to resolve, whatever they were, and hiding herself away in solitude was simply her way of getting the job done to a degree she deemed satisfactory.

Knowing that any words he spoke would fall on deaf ears, he had done his silent best to coax her out, pulsing their link every so often in an effort to let her know that he was still there for her, and now he did so one last time, telling her that he was going to get some rest but would not be far away; he could only hope that she would hear him on some subconscious level and would come out by herself, because she would be very displeased with him to find herself waking up in a futon she did not remember getting into.

Lightly, Khi moved off into the living room, turning on the lights as he went. He rearranged the closet to the state it had been in before Natsuki had taken refuge there, and removed the two futons from the bottom shelf; after depositing one on the sofa, he gathered together Natsuki's scattered possessions and put them in her backpack for safekeeping, and set out the sofa-bed. He hoped that when she saw it, it would encourage her to rest; to say her day had been stressful would be something of an understatement, and she would certainly need some sleep.

Picking up the remaining futon for himself, he closed the closet door on his way to the bedroom, and cast one last, long gaze at the bathroom door, willing her one last time to open it; stubborn as always, she did not, and the door remained firmly locked. He expected nothing less, and smiled sadly, wishing that, perhaps one day she would open herself to him, and he would truly understand her.

Futon under one arm, Khi slowly closed the bedroom door for the night, and shut it as loudly as he dared to without upsetting the guests in the rooms around theirs, hoping Natsuki would hear it, and understand that it was safe to come out…

* * *

**Notice to all readers: The rating of this story will be stepped up to 'M' upon posting of the next chapter, for sexual content. 'M' was the original story rating, and we always intended it to go back up eventually.**

The time's a-coming, peoples... Guess you could say it's all kicking off now, or rather, it's about to. Chapter 5 is in the works right now, and I'll try to have it finished ASAP.

Peace-out, folks!


	5. Chapter 5

Aaand here it is, peoples: the completed Chapter 5 of _DearScon_. It took it's time in getting here, I know, and for that I can only appologise; others might give it the old 'genious takes time' spin, but hey, who am I kidding? Not myself, certainly, and you guys? Hell no.

This monster of a chapter weighs in at 7,191 words. From what depths of my imagination some of this came, I can't truthfully say I'm entirely entirely sure, and I'm kinda wary to find out - who knows what else I might find in there? ^_^;

Also, **please be advised that this chapter has a rating of *M*, for the presense of distinctly adult goings-on.** Said goings-on are not described in a particularly graphic fashion, but **reader discresion is advised** nonetheless.

And on that remark I say unto you, _bon appetit_.

**DISCLAIMER:  
****The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. _Team Hydro_ and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. _Team Hydro_ does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.**

* * *

DearScon! – Chapter 5

One more time, Natsuki ran the fingers of both hands through her hair in frustration, her trademark hat laying crumpled in her lap. For the life of her, she couldn't understand why Khi would suddenly give up like that, and trying to find some method in the madness of it was driving her _nuts_.

Finally, she surrendered in pure exasperation, and resolved to ask him about it in the morning—_night-time… it's night-time already…_ she gaped at the realisation as it dawned on her, one more confusion in a small swarm of them whirring around in her mind. How did she know? How could she _possibly know_ it was night-time outside when she was sitting in a room with _no freaking windows?_

_Screw that,_ she told herself, and relegated it to the back of her mind for later consideration. _What am I gonna do about Khi? Gotta find a solution here, instead of making more fuss… I'm the one causing the problem… Shutting him out and moping isn't gonna solve a damn thing…_

She sighed in spite of herself, and gingerly got to her feet, shaking her legs a little to get the blood flowing again, and ignoring the pins-and-needles that came with it. She reached into the sink with the intention of emptying out her earlier splash-water, only to remember she'd done it before sitting down, and turned her thoughts to the shower instead; _Might as well get ready for bed while I'm in here…_

Absent-mindedly she went through the motions of the nightly ritual, shedding clothes as she stepped toward the shower and got in. A few minutes later she was suitably drenched and cleaned, but as she opened the cabinet above the sink looking for the toothpaste, a plastic bottle fell out whose label immediately caught her attention when it clattered to the porcelain surface below.

It was torn off on one side, leaving only the end of the product's name… at which she couldn't help but laugh. The word, written in some fancy computer-generated scrawl, glared out at her in big, bold English letters:

"-ng Solution"

_Oh, come on,_ she thought bemusedly, _it's never that easy… hell, it's not even _supposed_ to be that easy … but who am I to look a gift-horse in the mouth…_ She slowly and carefully turned the bottle over in her hands; it was one of those gel dispenser thingies, reminding her of the ones she'd raised hell with as a kid, spraying sanitary hand wash all over the wad of tissue she'd jammed in the plughole before turning on the taps full-blast – oh, how those American school janitors had hated her.

Inspection of the bottle complete, it still yielded no information, and half the label was missing, so the only way to really tell what was inside was to try it, she figured, and put it down on the sink before depressing the plunger and dumping the sticky, watery gunk into the palm of her hand.

Putting it to her nose, the smell alone told her it wasn't any kind of hand-wash she knew of, there was none of the crappy fragrance that most of the major products of the type used; instead it was something else, something… fruity… and genuinely so, not artificial. _Strawberries…?_ She mused, and inhaled the scent a little deeper. _Strawberries, and something else… but what…_

She dropped a glob of it into the palm of her right hand and massaged it a little between her fingers, trying to increase the fragrance… and realised exactly what she was dealing with when her fingers became sticky and her palm became slick as an ice rink. _Lubricant… Thank you, Mr. Smartass Hotel Manager, for the most epic-useless choice of toiletries I have _ever_ seen. Why the hell would we need lubricant in our—_

The probable use for such a substance suddenly dawned on her, and a small, wicked involuntary smile broke out on her face. So _that's_ what it was for… She promptly washed her hands before jamming the bottle to the very back of the cabinet, grabbed the toothpaste, and finished getting ready for bed as quickly as she could.

But by the time she'd gotten to the door, clothes over her arm and wrapped in her fluffy towel, she had already abandoned the rather risqué plot that the lubricant had caused her to form; regardless of her new-found acceptance of what she felt for Khi, it was still a little soon for _that_, and she had solidly decided against it before-hand – avoidance of temptation was the very reason she was sleeping in the living room.

_What fun is temptation if you don't give in every once in a while?_ The little voice at the back of her mind purred as she stalked through the living room, and saw that he had set up the sofa-bed for her. But then why was there a futon sitting in the middle…?

_Choices again… he's giving me another damn choice to make… dammit Khi, you're killing me with all these decisions…_

She regarded her options carefully as she dug around in her backpack for her pyjamas, and decided upon her sleeping arrangements as she pulled them on. Though perhaps he hadn't meant it to be seen in quite the way she'd taken it, the choice he'd given her this time was clear: the comfortable familiarity of a futon to the sofa-bed, which in her mind represented the idea of trying something new – which was exactly what she'd been pondering for the last two hours.

Perhaps he had some sense of what she was tangling with, and was trying to help her along like he always did. _'Or' is a bore, as Mom used to say,_ she thought, and began packing away the sofa-bed methodically. _Why settle for one when you can have it both ways…_

With a foot on one end of the futon, she hooked the other underneath a fold and kicked upward with a twist, unfolding the entire thing in one deft movement, before throwing the sofa-bed's blanket over the top, and proceeded to pilfer its pillows while she was at it. It wasn't perfect, and it sure-as-hell wasn't what she was used to, but it'd do, just for a change…

But as Natsuki quietly bedded down after turning off the lights, she thought once more of the single occupant of the adjoining bedroom, alone in that big, plush double-bed, and her mind began to wander to places she'd long-since told it not to… and for once, much to her own mirth, she didn't try to stop it.

_Could just sneak in and go totally crazy… _she mused with a sultry grin; the idea seemed more appealing the more she thought about it. _It's not like anyone back home would ever know…and if they did, it's not like I'd give a crap anyway…nothing a Natsuki Bridge wouldn't fix…_

Khi wouldn't refuse her, she was sure… mostly sure… mostly… …on second thought…

_Oh hell, what am I thinking… he'd totally freak out, probably give him a damn heart attack, so frikkin' bashful… and that psycho Rubi would beat the crap outta him if she found out… what'd Mom think…_

The thought of the DearS' head psychopath physically punishing Khi for something that was her fault set her blood boiling… and at the same time, made her want to cry. The very idea made her want to scream in rebellion, and give Fina's whip-wielding bulldog the belting she so readily meted out. But where the hell would that get her in the long run?

Suddenly miserable with her train of thought, she turned and tossed, trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in, but to no avail – it was hopeless, a lost cause. She huffed loudly in irritation, and kicked the blankets off roughly, to lay on her back, arms spread wide with her right fist clenched so tightly her knuckles were cracking by themselves; her left fist, however, made a soggy squelch instead, followed by a tiny lance of pain. Sourly she remembered her bandaged hand, and saw the dressing had been soaked in the shower. _Great…just frikkin' great._ With so much junk whirling around in her brain, a maelstrom that resolutely refused to be quieted, this was going to be a very _long_ night.

_Want him, want him, want him, godammit but I can't…_ she thought desperately, heart rate stepping up the pace as thoughts of him began to race in her mind, every innocent memory they'd made together, however unknowingly, whirling and crashing together in a racket that promised to keep her conscious and aware for hours to come. _Why not… what's so frikkin' __**wrong**__ with that?_

_You just can't, so deal with it,_ she heard her father's voice snapping at her from the depths of her memories, a recollection that only added to her frustration. He'd done this to her frequently as a small child – denied her something simple with such _pointlessness_, and then refused to tell her _why_ she couldn't have it.

He'd done it once, she remembered bitterly, with a birthday present, of all things; a small toy she'd been hankering after for months, and when her mother had finally broken down and bought it, and her birthday had finally rolled around and she'd been so excited, he'd refused to let her have it, for reasons he would not state even to her mother – he simply refused to let her have the toy, and she'd found it afterward, discarded in the trash, broken and never so much as removed from the box.

She'd later learned that it had been his way of teaching her that she wouldn't always be able to have what she wanted. Her mother had been understandably annoyed, and her brother, when he'd heard, went berserk, and had torn up their father's office in vengeful retaliation – one more fracture in her onii-chan's famously-rocky relationship with Ikuhara Takezou.

And in the end, with only his shitty parenting skills to find fault with and blame, all her father had managed to instil in her was an intense, smouldering hate for being denied something, anything, without a damn good cause – a reason that had to be fully and implicitly explained to her, and if she didn't like what she was told then she fought for it with tooth and nail, without rest, until it was hers.

Thus far, only her mother had proven a master of what was surely an art form, for it took a _lot_ to convince her that there _was_ good reason that she shouldn't have what she wanted – it wasn't like she ever asked anyone for much that she couldn't get for herself. She _never_ made unreasonable requests.

And that was what bothered her, it seemed – she knew what she wanted, and something hidden and otherwise-silent was telling her that she could not have that which she so desired, because Khi was a DearS, and that fact alone made a relationship or _anything_ with him taboo, and based on that, the little voice insisted she should just accept that her desire was forbidden, that it was wrong of her to want it, and to let it go.

Clearly, the dark little voice that was her ingrained sense of prejudice was none-too-well-acquainted with Ikuhara Natsuki, who did not respond well to hearing the word 'no' being uttered in answer to any perfectly-reasonable request, was notorious for her perfectly-_un_reasonable reactions to such a bullshit answer, and could muster more than enough resolve to shatter any front that was put up to convince her otherwise.

Almost an hour later, a solid hour of contemplation and mental wrestling on the matter, and the little voice still didn't have a reason that satisfied her, so she rather smugly stamped on it, snuffed it out and stifled it altogether. But that still left her with a lack of direction as to what actions she could take to achieve her goal. Because when it all came down to it, Khi was still sleeping in the next room, and she was still lying there wondering what the hell to do next.

And then, just as she was about to try to get some sleep, and tackle it again in the morning with a fresh mind, the notion occurred to her that there was no need for this contemplation of reasoning or consequences, of why verses why not -- because what she wanted really _was_ only in the next room, and she really _could_ simply open the door and get it. So, quite nonchalantly, she got to her feet with an impish grin, and proceeded to do exactly that.

And in the few steps between the futon and the door, that small but significant victory over her own sense of prejudice fuelled in her a fierce drive that transformed her rekindled desire into a different animal altogether.

It hadn't been long since Khi had retired to bed, granted, but even fatigued as he was, he was finding it utterly impossible to sleep. And he knew why – Natsuki's distress was keeping him awake, his heart-sense demanding he return to her side. The facts of the matter, though, were undeniable: he needed sleep before he could be of any further use to Natsuki, or even to himself. What good would it do either of them if he were to collapse from exhaustion? Then he would be the one waking up to find _her_ taking care of _him_.

He idled over that thought for a brief moment, that she would be concerned enough to take care of him in such a vulnerable state – she _would_, his heart-sense insisted, and he was not one to argue. He remembered that Natsuki and her mother had gone to great lengths to care for Nia during the unfortunate misunderstanding with the photographer; Fina-sama had been touched by her concern for the hapless Biter-in-Training, and always seemed amused, if not outright eager, to learn of Natsuki's latest antics. _Would Fina-sama be pleased if I… chose Natsuki to be my master?_ He wondered, and quietly hoped that yes, she would be pleased with him, and perhaps _for_ him, that his heart-sense had chosen well.

He slowly turned on his side in the futon he had laid down to one side of the bed, with the intent of trying once again to drift off to sleep. He'd taken one look at the bed, and instantly decided that he would refuse to sleep in it, regardless of how she had insisted; he knew his place if nothing else, and if Natsuki wouldn't take the bed then he certainly wasn't going to. He was sure she would berate him for it in the morning, but by then it would be pointless to grouse about it–

His efforts to find sleep were shattered by a sound near the doorway: someone trying to quietly open the door, a decidedly-failed effort. Slowly the door slid open, an inch or two at a time, until the opening was just wide enough to allow a shadowed figure to slip into the room, sliding the door closed behind them as silently as they could.

Khi bolted upright to a sitting position in less than a moment, out of sheer surprise if nothing else; he knew the sound of that heart beat… "Natsuki-san?" he whispered, and she froze mid-step, caught red-handed. "Was the futon not comfortable for you?" He asked quietly, incredulous; he couldn't think of any other reason she might try to sneak in, other than to preserve her pride. "Did you perhaps change your mind about sleeping in the bed?"

He questioned with care, knowing full-well how she took to being confronted – those who did rarely escaped unscathed. But to his great surprise, her shoulders did not sag in defeat, and as her eyes turned to fall on him he saw in them a blazing kind of sheen that reminded him of a staunch, defiant courage he'd seen once before, in another whom he greatly admired – one who had left with Lady Io to explore the stars.

And there was a bright glimmer of something else in her eyes too, something smouldering, like the sparks of hot coals, and it excited him and terrified him at the same time. He could not see her face, she was so brightly backlit by the lights of Tokyo Bay outside so as to be little more than a silhouette, but her eyes… her eyes were all too clear to him. He swallowed slowly and purposefully, denying the fear that such a strong gaze inspired, leaving only the thrill.

She didn't answer his questions directly, instead stepping lightly around the bed to the opposite side, her burning gaze never leaving him for a moment; she placed her hands flat against the covers, smoothing over them before peeling them back, and only then, briefly, did she look away from him to inspect the pearly-white sheets beneath; seemingly satisfied with what she saw, she returned her eyes to his face, before drawing the covers back entirely.

Slowly she drew herself onto the bed, claiming just enough space on one side for herself, before tucking her smooth, cotton-clad legs beneath her, and laying a single hand, palm downward on the sheets in front of her. The hand rose from the wrist and tapped once, twice, in quick succession on the sheets – an invitation, a command, to join her and sit with her.

Of her intentions beyond that, Khi could only guess, and oh did the possibilities swirl like a hurricane in his mind. Natsuki was gazing upon him like some creature possessed her, the intensity of her stare reminding him solidly of a predator having found its prey. He dared not deny her with such a look in her eyes, and his heart-sense implored him to obey.

He rose to his feet on the spot, not bothering to peel back the futon; something told him he wouldn't need it again tonight. With the same care he had taken before in questioning her, he stepped forward, and climbed onto the bed. Suddenly, without forethought or forewarning to himself, he began to speak;

"I encountered another DearS today, Natsuki-san, a fellow Black Sheep. His name was Rai, and he told me something of myself that forced me to open my eyes, and acknowledge something that I have known for some time now, that I possess an unrequited Gift…"

She blinked once, but said nothing to silence him; taking that as her leave to continue, he pressed on, heart-sense spurring him forward before his usual meekness could reassert itself and cause him to loose his newfound nerve,

"You have always known, Natsuki-san, that as a DearS, I am a slave… I know you have no taste for this notion, like your brother Ikuhara Takaya-sama … But a slave is nothing, _my life_ means nothing, without a master to please..."

He ground to a stop momentarily, his breath catching in his throat at the realisation that this was the point of no return; he could deviate from the words on which he was almost choking, and simply let her have her way with him for the night as she clearly seemed to want to – he would let her, for the simple sake of pleasing her – or, he could push forward before his nerve wavered completely, and see it through.

Either way, things would never be quite the same between them, and with the reality of their situation pressing down on him, Khi felt the twinge of his heart-sense reminding him that he would never have this chance again – the chance to choose something for himself, to choose his own Master. With those things in mind, he motioned for the only real option, and pushed stutteringly forward.

"I-if you would deign to accept me for what I am, Natsuki-san… I would choose you to be my Master. Please, if you would be so kind as to accept me… I would gladly serve you, in whatever way you see fit, for rest of my life."

She seemed to regard him, then, with an amused surprise that was remarkably pleasant to him; the glimmer in her eyes that he had yet to name had still not gone away. He thought to speak again, and ask what it meant, but silenced himself abruptly; he had offered himself to her, and would resolve to await her verdict.

Natsuki had been eyeing Khi with a certain, almost-carnivorous lust until he had spoken those words - words with which he had beaten her to the punch, and she had never been so relieved in her life that he had so thoroughly stolen her thunder. Her silence had not been one of choice, as he seemed to think; she had been trying to find the right way to propose the same thing, hopefully without screwing it up… but then he always _had_ been quicker off the mark than her with these things…

Nevertheless, to say that she was stunned would be something of a grand understatement. She had only heard of a DearS proposing a Master-Slave bond once before, and even then, it hadn't really been a proposal as such; Ren had simply bound herself to her brother without prior warning, and suddenly he'd been stuck with her. Takeya's confusion and initial dismay had quickly given way to a clumsy mutual affection, and later, love for the socially-challenged DearS who adored him so genuinely, and so willingly followed him into outer-space with Nia and Miu and the others.

But Khi's proposal and the suggestion that they shared an unrequited Gift… this was the way it was supposed to happen, she thought. This was how a DearS possessing the Gift, and a flamboyant vocabulary like Khi's, selected a Master for themselves. But now, of course, she felt that she should give him her answer in such a way that it at least matched his sense of grace and ceremony. And so, for the first time since stepping into the bedroom, she spoke, and did her level best;

"I met a DearS today too, Khi," she said softly, barely louder than a whisper, "Her name was Amida. She has a master who's from Europe, and they're going to be parents soon… They were so happy that it scared me out of my wits… and that made me see that for a DearS to find real, true happiness, and live a fulfilled life… they have to find someone who will love them." Silently, Khi nodded in agreement, so she swallowed the embarrassment he couldn't see and pushed on.

"For a long time now, I've been fighting with myself to deny the things that I feel for you… denying that I even feel them. It's not that I don't want to… to feel them, I mean… but I was afraid they would hurt our friendship, and I couldn't stand the thought of that…" she paused to study his face, and was relieved to see that he understood. "After my brother left, with Nia and Miu, and the others… You were all I had left, Khi, and I didn't want to lose you for the world… But now I know we want the same things… I want to be with you, Khi… and if taking you as my slave like Onii-chan accepted Ren… if that's the only way I can be with you… then you can call me your master. I will accept you."

She smiled at him, hoping that it conveyed how happy he had made her, and he returned the gesture with a deep blush and a small, almost inaudible sigh of relief. "Then, if you will permit me, Natsuki-san, I will perform the binding…" Khi said to her with a smile that was stupidly-happy and yet strangely serious at the same time, and so damn _charming_ that she wanted to squirm in a way that made her blush like crazy.

She watched with great curiosity, and a modicum of embarrassment, as Khi slipped backward off the bed and shed his neatly-pressed night clothes – along with everything _else_ - before folding them carefully on his futon. And then, turned slightly away from her, he reached for the triangle on his collar…

_Not the alien suit, please not that…_ Natsuki squeaked internally, and blushed again; did he know how much she loved seeing him in that thing? _God, I hope not… or he'll wear it all the damn time, knowing him…_

Khi tapped the triangle once, lightly, and for a moment he seemed to float as the burst of light enveloped him in the smooth alien fabric. "I must wear my normal attire to perform the binding, Natsuki-san… but you would prefer me to wear it anyway, yes?" he said as he turned back to her, still smiling, and she blushed so deeply at that remark, her face becoming so warm at the sight of him in his DearS suit and looking at her _that way_, she was sure her nose was about to start bleeding.

As he stooped to neatly fold his futon, for a moment she thought Khi was being obscenely happy about all this. But of course he was – to find a master was the one thing that every DearS wanted… it was one of the only times in their lives when they could make a choice for themselves…

_Of course he's happy…_ she thought._ He only gets to do this once in his whole life…_

Her mind snapped back to reality as he slipped back onto the bed with a careful kind of confidence, until their knees met, and she realised that this was _it_, as he took up her hand in his; warily, she let him… what was he going to do?

Slowly Khi dipped his head to softly kiss the back of her hand, before raising his head just enough that he could look her in the eye, and murmured what sounded like an incantation in his native tongue; the strange, musky tone in which he spoke sent waves of delicious chills through her, and as though he were whispering translations in her ears, she found herself understanding him;

"_The bond between us is established. From this moment on...until the end of time...I am your… slave…_"

And then, at the very moment when she expected it the least, when her brain was still processing that short but all-important declaration and she wasn't the least bit prepared, he reached up to gently take her cheeks in his hands, and kissed her for the first time.

It was a shock to her at first, to feel his lips upon her own… they were soft, she noticed absently, and possessed an unearthly warmth that caused her to wonder if there wasn't blood in his veins but fire. She grew to appreciate the sensation far quicker than she thought she might.

But just when she got her mind wrapped around it and began to kiss him back, with great fervour and the promise of something more on the tip of her tongue, ever-so-lightly brushing against those alien lips, testing, probing, looking for a way through… he pulled away, with mirth and a glimmer of mischief in his eyes that she'd never seen before, that promised he would pay the debt in-full later, and then some… but didn't he know it would be agony to wait? _Yes,_ she thought, _of course he does… he knows what I want… Dammit, he's teasing me again…_

Softly then, without so much of a flicker of movement of his eyes away from hers, he took her bandaged hand and peeled away the sodden dressing, one layer of gauze at a time, until the broken skin beneath met fresh, warm air. The fact that he flinched along with her at the tiny lance of pain when she reflexively coiled her fingers closed over the wound was a surprise to her, to be sure, and only when it had receded did he lower his eyes to inspect the injury.

_So that's how they do it…_ she thought, astonished at the tingling rush she felt as he ran softly-glowing fingers over her wound, his whole hand ablaze in bright, white motes of healing energy. _I guess… it doesn't feel so bad, after all… _She watched in amazement as the skin began to knit itself back together, and in less than a moment, the injury was gone.

"It is my duty now, to obey," he whispered to her, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek, and nuzzled into it with a lover's affection. "To take away your troubles, whatever they might be… I would not stand to see you hurt, Natsuki-sama..."

_Oh god… I hope he's not going to call me that all the time… _she mused, _because it's doing __**really**__ bad things to me in places I don't want to think about yet…_

And yet, before she knew it she was already reaching for him with her other hand; slowly, unsurely she kissed him on the forehead, on the alien crystal embedded there, and felt him shiver in delight at the touch of her lips. And then she kissed him again, fully on the lips, wrapped her arms around his neck and gently pulled him down with her to the soft, white sheets below them. After a few breathless moments, she broke their kiss and caught his gaze, and saw the rapture in his eyes. The fire that erupted in her at that was like no heat she had ever known before, and it scared her and delighted her and did unspeakable things to the light in which she saw him. With a snide grin, she wet her lips and arched her back, pushing her hips into him, and purred,

"You know what I want, Khi… I'm waiting…"

"Of course, master…" he whispered, choking back the surge of pure, unbridled lust that poured across their newly-forged link before it could overwhelm his senses, his self-restraint. "I promise to be gentle--" He did not expect her hand to shoot forward, to hook her delicate fingers on the triangular link of his collar, and _pull_. But she did, and in less than a second his suit had disintegrated; it left him bare to the scrutiny of her eyes, those hungry eyes… the swirl of embarrassment that he felt, to be naked before his master, and the burst of pride that drowned it out when those eyes and their link told him that she liked what she could see… His breath caught in his throat as she suddenly rolled him onto his back, somehow managing to shed her nightshirt as she slipped fluidly atop him, back arched ramrod straight, hips curved backward and leaving hers precariously close to him.

He stifled the surprise he felt, to see that she wore nothing beneath the shirt she had so recklessly abandoned, the sight of the soft, supple skin of her bare breasts aglow in the city lights quickly arousing him. She felt the pressure of his pressing against her, and grinned impishly, sucking in air through pressed-together teeth as the exhilaration began to hit her. He resisted the urge to reach out and touch her; it was what she wanted, he felt, but he would not risk doing so uninvited. He balled his hands into fists, to keep his fingers from wandering, and squeezed his fingers into his palms so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Alas, she seemed to sense his restraint, and the look in her eyes told him that she resolved to break it. She reached down without uttering a word and took hold of his collar again, careful not to trigger it, and pulled him up.

She wrapped an arm firmly around his neck and laced her fingers into his hair, crushing him against her chest as she ground herself into his lap, and cursed in frustration when her pyjama pants got in her way. "Help me with this, Khi…" she hissed through ground-together teeth. "Get these stupid things off me before I tear them off…" He reached up to cup her cheek in his hand, as if to calm her, but the impish gleam she caught in his eye told her otherwise. Suddenly then, she found herself floating in the air, with the sheets – and Khi - several inches beneath her. The little spike of panic that'd begun to creep up her back disappeared when she saw that he was concentrating, his eyes never leaving hers; _I gave him an order…_ she realised, _and he's carrying it out._

_Don't you drop me, don't you __**dare**__ drop me…_ she implored, regardless of being barely a foot off the ground, when he placed a hand on her arm, as if to reassure her that she was safe, and whispered, "You can take them off now, Natsuki-sama… should I help you with that?" It was a rhetorical question, she realised as he reached for the waistband of her pants with his free hand, and softly drew them down her thighs, before applying a little more focus, and sending them floating the rest of the way to her edge of the bed, where they deposited themselves in a heap on the floor with a _*fwump*_.

Natsuki clutched at him tightly as he returned her gently to his lap, and gave him a soft slap on the shoulder for scaring her. She'd known for a long time that DearS could manipulate gravity, but she had _not_ known that Khi could make _people_ float as well as objects and, admittedly, it had scared her to experience such a thing so dramatically. "Idiot…" she mumbled, and averted her eyes in embarrassment. Khi only chuckled good-naturedly, muttering to her, "I trust your flight was not too turbulent, Na—ach!" She silenced him with poke on the forehead, and glared at him with a suspicious twinkle in her eye. "No more teasing!" It was a warning of the grin-and-pointed-finger kind, a threat forged from trampled-down frustration more than anything, but he knew that on some level she very much meant it. So he heeded it – every DearS worth their training knew when to draw the line.

"Of course, master," he said, bowing his head submissively; "I forget my place… please forgive me. You seem frustrated, Natsuki-sama. Perhaps, if you would permit, I can relieve you of that…"

If not for the fact that she was already sitting in his lap, she'd have lunged at him right then – he could see it in every fibre of her being, the coiled spring that the suppression of her desires had caused her to become. As it was, he could barely keep up with the ferocity of her kiss… She began grinding into his lap again, slowly this time, not quite as forcefully, but no less torturously. Tentatively, he laid his hands on her smooth, bare thighs; the purr she let out as she nipped softly, teasingly at his neck told him his touch was welcomed, and his fingertips began skating quietly across her silken skin. Without warning she snaked her hips upward, dragging herself along his length; Khi inhaled sharply, eyes widened in shock at the sudden sensual assault.

She was sopping wet, leaving him slick with her oils; steady on her knees she stared down at him, paralysing him with eyes that seemed to bore through him. Slowly she looped an arm around his neck again, cupping his cheek in her other hand and kissing him deeply, before surprising him again with another spurt of boldness as she reached behind herself and took hold of him firmly. Then, painfully slowly, she lowered herself ever so slightly, and guided him to her entrance…and stopped.

Was she going to make him beg? No, there was a glimmer of uncertainty in her eyes…but not of what she meant to do, no, she knew what she wanted, and she knew that in order to get it, she merely had to complete the motion she'd begun. Her uncertainty was for him. Her eyes searched his, questing for an answer to the question she couldn't bring herself to voice. Instead it echoed loudly across their link: _Can we? Please?_

Khi floundered at the prospect of her needing his consent for this – he was her slave now, a tool for the fulfilment of her desires… did she not realise that? _She is… asking my permission? Why?_ Regardless of how the turn of events astounded him, he resolved to make his position, his _place_ in their relationship clear – better to be safe than sorry, after all; "Natsuki-sama," he whispered to her, afraid that to speak any louder might startle her out of her reverie, "I'm your slave. If this is what you desire of me then please, do not be afraid to use me however you might see fit. I belong to you, now_._"

The confusion in her eyes disappeared at that, and he felt her sense of power growing as her self-control began to wane at his words. "…say that...say it again…" she muttered, almost under her breath. Smiling, he seemed only too happy to comply, and empower her further;

"I belong to you. I always will."

Softly she kissed him again, less forcefully than he had expected her to; sensing her longing, he parted her knees a hand's breadth further than she had placed them, before settling his hands on her hips, to guide her down. She stared into his eyes still, as if awed by the understanding of her that she found in them. He tensed himself, softly nestling the head of his shaft in the soft folds where she had placed him, and her eyes changed, became both strangely soft and equally determined as she realised that she was ready to cement a union that would bind them for the rest of their lives.

Softly, softly she descended, felt him parting her lips and pushing her open for the first time; she gasped as he slipped gently inside, clutched him tighter as she felt him meet her inner barrier. _This is going to hurt,_ her mind screamed, reminding her starkly of the quiet conversations with school friends who were brash enough to describe their first times with a foolish air of superiority, as though going all the way on the first date was some kind of achievement; personally, she thought that just meant they'd made themselves easy, and she frowned on that. This was supposed to be special, not thrown away on a whim to please some passing fancy, who might abandon them at the drop of a hat. _Hers_ would be special; that it was with Khi was enough, more than enough to make it so.

As the pressure on her inner wall began to mount, she screwed her eyes shut in anticipation. Then he thrust himself once, sharply, and she bit back a cry that didn't surface… much like the pain she'd been expecting. Where was the pain? It _was_ supposed to hurt, wasn't it? It was _supposed_ to hurt like hell, she'd been told so by several different people… so…?

"Forgive me if I disappoint you, Natsuki-sama, but I thought it best to take away the maiden pain…"

Her eyes snapped open in surprise as he drove himself up, deep inside her, and the strangled cry that she'd been choking back finally found its way out of her. The sensation of being so thoroughly _filled_ overwhelmed her every sense so abruptly that she didn't know what to make of it. _So…big…_ She struggled to form a coherent thought as she felt him touching the very deepest part of her, and felt herself clamp down on him as he began to pull out, almost as though her body was moulding itself around him, that it might remember his shape.

Slowly he drew himself almost all the way out, so much so that for a moment she despaired at the sensation of emptiness, before he thrust into her again, harder this time, and she cried out in an ecstasy like she had never felt before. He paced himself carefully, his thrusts becoming harder, faster, driving himself into her with greater energy behind each plunge. Soon her mind went blank, and as they reached their peaks together, she screamed her release as his poured into her, before collapsing into blissful unconsciousness.

Softly, Khi laid back, panting quietly; he'd done his best for her, and he could only hope that he had done enough. For the moment, he decided, it might be best to rest up. The night's unexpected turn-of-events had left him unprepared; he had been tired before, but now he worried that in his weariness he had not done things properly, as he should have; their Binding had been impromptu, without the kind of formal ceremony that was usual in more normal circumstances.

But perhaps all that fuss might have annoyed her, he reasoned to himself, as such occasions were prone to do; maybe she would have preferred it to be this way, regardless. Natsuki was a private person, after all; she shunned the kind of attention that would inevitably follow people learning of their relationship, and occasionally reacted to that kind of interest with a markedly violent outburst. After that, people tended to leave her in peace.

Tenderly, she shifted in her sleep as she lay atop him, her warm breath tickling the hairs on his neck. With the faintest hint of gravity manipulation he lifted the covers at their feet, and with some effort, he managed to concentrate enough to guide them within reach of his hands, before pulling them up to keep her warm. She wrapped her arms around him, and mumbled his name; he allowed himself to feel a scrap of pleasure at that acknowledgement of her ownership of him, whether she thought of it as such or not – it was enough for him to say with pride that he belonged to her, that she had accepted him. As he laced his arms across her bare, smooth back and truly embraced her for the first time, he was thankful for that, for it was no small gift to a DearS, to be able say they had found a master for themselves.

The notion of sleep seemed more and more appealing as each moment passed, and now, wrapped securely in her arms, perhaps such blessed respite was no longer beyond his grasp. And as his eyes began to close, he reached out to her with his heart sense, so that when she awoke from her slumber, he would wake with her, that the first thing he might see would be the morning's sunlit rays playing on her eyes.

* * *

...Yeah, the uh... act itself was kinda brief, wasn't it? Give 'em a break, it's their first time. ^_^;;

Hope this was an enjoyable read, for all the effort that went into it.

And no, I don't mean 'enjoyable' like that! Get yer minds outta the gutter already! But leave mine there, if you please - it's perfectly happy (and not to mention productive) right where it is, thanking you very much! X3 *mischevious grin*

Keep your eyes peeled for the next chapter, and the morning after!

Peace out!


	6. Chapter 6

This... was a real pain in the posterior to get right. And I'm still not all that sure that it _is_ right. But it's done, and it's here. Enjoy!

**DISCLAIMER:  
****The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. _Team Hydro_ and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. _Team Hydro_ does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.**

* * *

DearScon! – Chapter 6

Khi was awoken the next morning not to the peaceful, pleasant scene he had hoped for and prepared for in his weary state during the aftermath of their binding the night before, but rather to a loud and obnoxiously-persistent rapping on the door of their hotel suite. From the corner of his eye he could see their bedside clock, and it told him that it was a few minutes to eight. _Oikawa-san, no doubt…only he would be so zealous as to wake us at this hour…_ he thought, and sighed with an apologetic look to his still peacefully-sleeping master; she had slipped off of her rather comfortable perch atop him during the night, and had slid down to rest upon his left side. Natsuki was, however, still rather tangled together with him, and it was a tenuous connection that he did not at all desire to break.

But, alas, Oikawa-san was well-known for his persistence, and Khi knew well enough that the pushy boy would quite happily stand there and knock, and eventually start calling loudly to them as well, until he either evoked the ire of the other guests with his loud banging on their door, or one of them deigned to answer him.

In that regard, it would likely prove less troublesome – and _far_ less painful for Oikawa-san – if he rose from the bed to quickly and quietly send the boy on his way before the racket he was making could wake Natsuki, who would surely inflict bodily harm to the hapless boy's person for having the nerve to wake her so early, should she catch him. He only hoped that the boy did not wish to be allowed in, because Natsuki wouldn't stand for that _at all_. Carefully, and with a heavyset feeling of regret, Khi extricated himself from his slumbering master and moved for the bedroom door, toggling his collar along the way to make himself presentable.

In the living room, he glanced briefly at Natsuki's sleeping arrangements from the night before as he passed, and felt himself smiling; she certainly found herself willing to indulge some unusual ideas at times. With all those covers, the bed she had arranged for herself would have been far too warm to get a good night's sleep in. Oihiko's insistent knocking soon reminded him of his purpose, however, and he trudged grudgingly to answer the door. "Yes, yes, alright_ already_…" he muttered grumpily. In retrospect, perhaps he _should_ have let Natsuki answer the door…

"Ah, Khi-san! Ready for another day at the convention?" Oihiko grinned at him with a cheerfulness that Khi found to be utterly insufferable for this hour.

"Good morning, Oikawa-san. Na-chan and I will not be attending the opening ceremony with you this morning," Khi replied softly, but bluntly, doing his best to not yawn. It really was _far_ too early… "Na-chan did not sleep well last night and is very tired, so we will be along at some point later-"

"_KHI_…!" The shout that came from the bedroom behind Khi echoed down the hallway, and both the DearS in question and the boy at the door jumped at the sound of an early-morning Natsuki, who was quite possibly very annoyed to be woken up at such an early hour on the weekend. Oihiko suddenly looked rather concerned for his personal safety, and perhaps, Khi considered, justifiably-so. But of course, neither of them expected her to shout _again;_

"Where'd you go, Khi…" she grumbled in a groggy, half-sleepy voice just loudly enough for half the hallway to hear, and then with a little less volume, but still perfectly audible, "...come back to bed… I'm getting cold…"

Oihiko watched with a mild curiosity that quickly turned into a suspicious grin as Khi's face first blushed a bright crimson before draining completely of all its colour, in total embarrassment. The snort of laughter that began to escape the boy's throat was quickly stifled when Natsuki muttered from the background, "Is that Oihiko at the door? You woke me up, you jerk! Threats from yesterday still stand, jackass! Do _not_ make me come out there or I'll ram that damn camera down your throat!"

"Uhm… Na-chan is not much of a morning person," Khi apologised nervously, and Oihiko nodded worriedly in agreement as Natsuki demanded in the background that he beat it, before she beat _him_. But the grin was still there on his face, and it was worrying Khi more with every passing second… What was so funny? Before Khi could enquire, though, Oihiko turned for the stairs and began retreating toward them with a slow, careful gait, almost as though stepping a little too heavily on the floor might cause Natsuki to come crashing through the wall in a rage, baying for his blood. The peculiar image that conjured in his mind made Khi want to break out in hysterics. But just before Oihiko disappeared through the stairway door, he turned back to look at Khi, still standing confusedly in the doorway, and gave Khi a wink that struck the DearS as disturbingly conspiratorial.

Mildly confused by the boy's behaviour, Khi turned back inside, and softly closed the door behind him. Thankfully, the scene hadn't seemed to have annoyed any of the other guests. _Natsuki-sama will be another matter, though—_

The thought stopped abruptly before it could complete itself, along with most of his ability to think, when he saw her standing there in the bedroom doorway, the morning sunlight reflecting on her bare skin so radiant and dazzling as though she were the sun itself. She was utterly bare, as she had been the night before – he had helped her in losing her night clothes, he recalled, to the detriment of his blood pressure – and the way that predatory blaze had returned to her eyes so suddenly almost made his heart stop.

Softly, silently, she held out a hand to him; he approached slowly, purposefully, and she placed it on his chest as he came close enough and yet closer still, mere inches from her, so close that she could feel his warmth on her skin. Any closer, a mere brushing of his searing skin on her own, and she might begin to burn from it, as they had smouldered together the night before… oh, how she wanted to burn again…

A maelstrom of emotion threatened to drown his heart sense and swallow him whole from across their link, and he embraced it as her eyes pleaded with him and she whispered in a husky voice, "Come back to bed…" The hand slipped idly down his front, and lingered for a moment on his navel, before reaching for his wrist.

He proffered it willingly, let her guide him back into their last night's sanctuary and back into her arms where he belonged. She took a slow, torturous pleasure in examining the triangle of his collar up-close, staring intently at every minute detail of its chromed surface, before finally triggering it. And as the sun began its daily, age-old creep across the sky, they began their own ascent, chasing it and each other in pursuit of ever-higher peaks, until like midday they touched the very crest of the sky.

**************- X - x - XxXxX - x - X -**

Later that day, their fervent bed-play followed by several more hours of blissful sleep, Khi awoke to order them some room service in the mid-afternoon, which given that most of the guests were at the convention, arrived quite quickly. Natsuki ate heartily, having bypassed breakfast in its entirety, and by the time she was finished, they had cleaned up quite well between them. Khi himself had never been a big eater, and so he had simply taken what little he needed refresh himself, and left the rest for her.

After she had finished ransacking the kitchens' offerings, Natsuki took herself off into the shower, while he began the arduous process of picking up their mess. With a diligent attention to detail that he had always possessed, he packed away his futon from the night before, collected Natsuki's night clothes, made the bed, then set to work putting things back into their proper places until the bedroom was more-or-less as they had found it the day before; he moved his efforts into the living room then, reducing her strange makeshift bed to its components and storing them back where they belonged. Eventually that room too returned to its former state, and then Natsuki came out of the bathroom.

The cleanliness of the place had improved along with that of her own self, it seemed, and it dawned on her as he insisted on drying her off, that she had bonded herself to a DearS who was something of a domestic taskmaster; obviously, Khi looked upon the rigors of regular household life quite cheerfully, as though they were some kind of pastime rather than the chores that she had always considered them to be, and he was quite happy to clean up after her. But while it was certainly unusual to her that he seemed so happy to putter around the place putting things right, it also occurred to her that such servitude was a DearS' way of life; Khi had done these things simply so that she wouldn't have to, that his efforts might make her happy, and they did.

He smiled brightly when she thanked him, and even went so far as to bow a little. She cracked up at that, and giggled hysterically like a child when he cocked his head to the side and looked at her quizzically, smiling despite his obvious confusion. Eventually when she calmed herself enough, he helped her into a dressing gown when she made a point to ignore her clothes, before they stepped out onto the balcony to gaze down on the crowds of conventioneers who meandered below, enjoying what remained of the sun's warmth as it blazed in the evening sky. Natsuki asked for some drinks to be brought up to them when room service returned to collect their earlier dishes, and soon enough they were settled on the balcony with a pitcher of cool ice tea.

The convention was scheduled to close its final day with a fireworks display, and she hadn't seen fireworks properly since they had attended the summer festival in Koharu two years prior, when Ayu-san had stepped up to help run the takoyaky stall with her when the going got tough. They'd sold out twice over thanks to Ayu-san's 'skill forged on the coast', she remembered, and the laid-back, beach-bum of a DearS had become a good friend, though they had very rarely seen one-another since that day.

"Maybe we'll go see Ayu-san soon, huh Khi?" she asked him thoughtfully, "Think you could wrangle that?"

"Of course, Natsuki-sama, if that is what you want," he smiled, "It would be good to see Ayu-san again, I think. It has been a long time since we saw her last… when Io-sama returned to space, I believe, and Ayu-san decided to stay and return to Bousou. She is something of a star in the local volleyball community there now, as I hear it," he mused. He laughed suddenly, apparently remembering something that he had seen…

An image suddenly arose in Natsuki's mind, of a tanned young woman with lilac hair, clad in orange shorts and a yellow tank-top emblazoned with a number, standing on a stage; the woman was being presented with something, some kind of plaque or trophy, and there were people, young men and women in the same clothes standing in a line behind her, all cheering… it was an award ceremony, and she was representing them… their team… a volleyball team. They'd just come first in the prefectural tournament, an achievement that put them in a top spot in the regional rankings, and there was talk of them playing for all of Japan… Ayu-san was moving up in the world.

Natsuki quickly realised then that she didn't actually _know_ any of this, and yet she did… She didn't follow any sports, they didn't really hold much interest for her, so how did she suddenly know that Ayu-san had become a rising volleyball star? Glancing across the table she found Khi to be deep in thought, with a look of pleased admiration on his face. And it struck then, that she knew these things that she couldn't have known otherwise, because Khi knew them.

It explained how she had known those other things the night before, like how it had been dark outside, and why a part of her had been so insistent that he would do anything for her if only she would ask. It had been their Gift, she realised, linking them together in a way that she did not yet completely understand. It been strengthened greatly by their bonding, she surmised, made strong enough that now she could even know what he was thinking about.

He looked up at her then, realising that she had worked it out, and they started laughing at the same time, which cracked her up all the more. She began to wonder then, as to the depth and strength of their link, the extent to which their bond reached, and of its limitations. Had he known yesterday that she had hurt herself, and that was why he had come to see her? Would he know if she was in danger? To what lengths would he go to help her?

"_Aishiteru_…" he whispered sombrely, seemingly in answer, and his response utterly stunned her, not merely for what he literally meant but for what the phrase implied; '_I love you…I would die for you…_' He stared out over the convention complex, to the inky-black, not-yet-starry horizon in the far distance that seemed to carry on forever, and she took that strange gesture for the measure of his devotion that he meant it to be; that he would not only love her unconditionally until the end of his days, but would give his life for hers in an instant.

He had told her that he would love her, even die for her, happily-so if it meant that she was kept safe, and she believed him because she knew almost as instinctively as he did that it was the gods'-honest truth. Silently she thanked him, and prayed that he would never have to, because now that she had him, she didn't know how she would ever do without him again.

A sudden flash and the sound of thunder overhead startled the pair out of their tender reverie, and as she looked up Natsuki's eyes were flooded with colour; the first of the fireworks had just been launched, and they'd found themselves in the perfect place to enjoy the display up-close. It seemed endless, the lightshow went on for so long that Natsuki wondered if the convention had a small factory's worth of fireworks to set off, but she couldn't deny the beauty of the colourful explosions above them; luscious reds, brilliant blues and greens in all manner of shades, dazzling oranges and whites so bright that the flashes left stars in the eyes of onlookers.

And then for the grand finale, there came the thunderous rumble of tens of synchronised explosions, a swarm of rockets streaking high into the night sky before detonating their gunpowder payloads in an astounding display of colour and intricate timing; to the delight and roaring applause of the crowds below, the carefully-timed explosions of colour laid themselves out in a pattern – patches and spots of green on huge detonations of blue sparks, encompassed by a wide, carefully plotted band of bright pink and bursts of grey-white. From below, it appeared to be nothing less than a massive depiction of the DearScon emblem, painted in lights for a fleeting moment on the blackened night sky – the Planet Earth, encircled by a DearS collar, triangular link and all.

Natsuki revelled in a childlike, near-hysterical sense of awe at the spectacle in the sky, and Khi himself was suitably impressed, nodding at the lighted symbology with an appreciative smile. The convention's organisers had truly outdone themselves this year, it seemed, and he couldn't help but feel proud for them. DearScon had become a gathering for the blossoming DearS population of Earth, and for their hordes of aficionados the world over; it represented the sense of equality that humanity had tried so hard to foster between their two races since the departure of Lady Io-sama, Ren-sama and Ikuhara Takaya-sama, and the insignia now burning brightly in the sky was a symbol of the world they hoped to create: the DearS and their human hosts, forging forward to a bright future together.

As the booming adulation from the ground far below got louder and louder, the two of them joined the crowd in its applause, before joining hands and lips in a kiss to mark the occasion. It was a moment that Natsuki knew they would remember forever, a spectacular end to a day that had been truly special all by itself. But of course, for them, it also marked the beginning of the rest of their lives, lives they would live together now, and as such, the symbol made of lights now quietly dying above was also a symbol for _them_. And for that alone, Natsuki silently made a promise to herself that they would return here to this place, to meet these people again next year, and every year that would follow, just so that they might commemorate this moment, the first of many moments they would make together. And when she looked in to his eyes, she could see that Khi knew of her heartfelt pledge and agreed with every fibre of his being.

"The display is over now, Natsuki-sama," he said quietly, afraid that to speak louder might spoil the atmosphere; "Perhaps you would like to go back inside now? It is getting late, and we will have to rise early to pack if we mean to catch our train home. Shall we?" And with a quiet smile, she led him inside again, and back to bed, Khi softly sliding the door closed behind them.

And as they lay down together for the last time under the covers of that particular bed, a green-clad DearS many miles away, who was longer and more refined in her years than most of her kind, couldn't help but smile and wish them the best of luck.

**************- X - x - XxXxX - x - X -**

Buried beneath covers of her own, deep in the heart of the Koharu DearS headquarters, a certain DearS Watcher couldn't help but chuckle at the things her heart-sense was whispering to her. As the Watcher, Fina's heart-sense was overarching, so intrinsically tied into the heart-sense of every DearS on the planet that she knew each of her charges more intimately than some of them knew themselves; so, when something changed in one of them, even something tiny or inconsequential, she _knew_.

And so when her heart-sense whispered to her that her community's Black Sheep had discovered himself to possess the much-coveted Gift, and had bound himself to a Master, Fina could only be surprised and delighted, and so she laughed inwardly to herself and was happy for him. He was well-trained, mild-mannered, and perhaps one of the finest of her flock to venture out into the world in this way to-date. Surely, none of her flock was more-deserving of this Gift than much-beloved, soft-spoken Khi. And he had chosen so _well_…

"It seems the last of your students is leaving us, Rubi," She whispered to her head Barker, so intimately-entangled with her as they lay together beneath the drapes of the Watcher's bed. "Our dear Khi has found a Master." Rubi's eyes flashed open at hearing this, and the heady mix of joy and confusion was evident in her eyes as she gazed up at her master-figure from around the swell of Fina's ample bosom. "Khi has… a master?"

Fina giggled good-naturedly at the mild distress Rubi was suddenly experiencing; this was the third student she had lost to the world now, and she adored them all, in her own way. "He has chosen Ikuhara Natsuki… he will serve her well, don't you think?" Fina answered, smiling as brightly as Rubi looked shocked - which was to say, _quite_. The normally-gruff Barker was positively astounded by this, a most unexpected revelation.

"Ikuhara…Natsuki…" Finding acceptance with her uttering the girl's name, she seemed to sense that their bonding was right and good for both of them, and so silently she gave what approval she could. She had lost all three of them now, her finest students. She had trained them all separately, of course, so much so that though they had met once before they had not even recognised each-other as fellow students under her tutelage. But alas, eventually, inevitably they had left her and their community for greener pastures; one had fled to the stars with the child Watcher, Io, to begin a new community and search for love and a Master to call her own; the other had become the heart and soul of another, human community, a place where she had been sent to learn with the Homestay program and had discovered it was so right for her there that she couldn't help but stay, she had so endeared herself to the people who had become her friends. Not even Io's call to return to space had torn her away.

And now the last of her greatest students, the ever-obedient, easily-flustered Khi, would leave home too. And as her heart seemed to shatter at the thought, it was a tear-filled joy that swelled her soul to repair it. "Do not be sad that he is leaving us, Rubi," Fina whispered, "You taught him as best you could. You taught him everything you know of the ways of servitude. And particularly the skill of Appeasement," she noted with a wry smile, holding the Barker closer, "Khi is a certifiable _master_ of that all-important skill."

Rubi smiled at that, for it was true. Perhaps only Ayu could surpass him in that regard, in ways that only a female DearS could. She was younger than Khi and Miu, had more energy to her personality than her fellow students, and she made friends effortlessly – so much so that Rubi had had to enforce her position as an instructor more thoroughly with Ayu, and distance herself from the young DearS to prevent such a friendship from forming between them, as it inevitably would. But of course, it had been that distance between teacher and student, in the end, that had allowed her to transform Ayu into a temptress without rival, a seductress like no other. Her friendly charm could assume a very different light in the mere blinking of an eye, and Rubi sincerely doubted there was a human being on the _planet_ who would turn the girl's attentions away.

"Come Rubi," Fina rose from her bed suddenly, wearing only a joyous grin. "Dress yourself, we must prepare. I will summon them tomorrow afternoon, and there is much we must do before they arrive. Khi will need our approval of his choice, and I will not see his community disappoint him… after all he has done for us, to grant him such is the least we can do. Don't you agree?

Rubi nodded, and followed the Watcher out of the bed and into the adjacent chamber, activating her collar as she strode across the room. Indeed, it _was_ time that Khi be rewarded for his service, and for Ikuhara Takaya-san's sibling to learn of what a gift their Black Sheep had given her.

* * *

So yeah, few loose ends to tie up. We'll deal with them soon enough.

Lots of insinuation of stuff x-rated happening in there, neh? We like doing that, insinuating stuff. T'is _fun_. :]

And I'll bet y'didn't think Fina was going to show up either, didja? And with Rubi! In _that_ sense of the word! ... What? Of _course_ Fina and Rubi are that way! Wouldn't make much sense if they _weren't_, now would it? If you've read the manga, then you've seen the way Rubi looks at her, dammit! There is _very obviously_ some chemistry between them!

Glad there's an epilogue still to come? It's going to be fun writing it!

Peace out!


	7. Chapter 7: Epilogue

Well, here it is: we've officially come to the end of _DearScon!_

This is the Epilogue, and we hope you've enjoyed following the story as much as we did in creating it. At the time this Epilogue was first posted, we weren't able to post the whole thing (see the **News Blast** for 26/7/10 in my profile if you haven't already), but as events progressed a-pace, we completed sizable chunks of the text and got them uploaded, and now, as of 04/10/10, the _DearScon!_ Epilogue is officially complete. Here be the end of the road, folks; the story has come to an end... or _has_ it?

Thanks to everyone who kept a Story Alert on this, and we hope that in the future, when we eventually write further pieces for our DearS Project, that you will all return to follow those as well.

Now, without further ado, the all-important Disclaimer, and the Epilogue!

**DISCLAIMER:**

**The characters and all related material herein are the property of their creators and/or copyright holders, who may be too numerous to name here. Team Hydro and all affiliated parties do not claim ownership of said characters and/or material. Team Hydro does not seek to infringe upon any trademarks, copyright, or any other existing legal document that may be connected to any of the above.**

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* * *

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**DearScon! – Epilogue**

A dreamcatcher swayed softly in the breeze above Natsuki's head as she leaned out of the apartment's living room window, a decoration she'd added from her room at home when she'd moved in. She could hear Khi behind her in the kitchen, clinking around a cupboard muttering something about the level of dust, and his intention of doing something about it. He'd already hauled the baggage up; his polite nagging had only relented when she'd let him carry her backpack, though she had made sure to tow her own, wheeled suitcase. There was an old saying, she was sure, about small victories counting occasionally, or something to that effect; gods knew Khi would have happily suffered a pulled muscle in his back if she'd let him carry everything. Sometimes her enthusiastic new 'slave' needed reminding, it seemed, that their binding had not rendered her incapable of doing things for herself.

The train ride back to Koharu had been somewhat quiet, mostly due to the fact that Oihiko had been silenced early during the trip home. She had made him promise not to tell anyone about the 'development' in her relationship with Khi, as he'd tenderly put it, before she could speak to people about it for herself; 'enslaving' a DearS wasn't entirely socially acceptable in Japan yet – most people still thought of it as slavery in the true sense of the word, though she preferred to think of their binding as a mutual confession - and the last thing she needed was Oihiko and his wild imagination giving the wrong people the wrong idea. But when he couldn't seem find something _other_ than the two of them to stare at with that smug smirk on his face that said _I knew this would happen_, she'd promptly threatened him with great harm to his person if he didn't start showing some basic manners. The boy simply couldn't seem to _not_ laugh at her for her refusal to let go of Khi's hand for the whole journey home.

She'd told him point-blank then that if she wanted to hold Khi's hand then she damn-well would; it was none of the snap-happy geek's damn business. Oihiko had only laughed harder. He should have known better though, having witnessed her short temper first-hand, than to laugh at her for _anything_. Alas, evidently he didn't know better, because he'd burst into a fit of hysterics when she'd fallen asleep on Khi's shoulder half-way to their destination. That was the second time he'd rudely-awoken her in as many days - damned if she wasn't going to make him _pay_ for it. He'd laughed like a lunatic at her anger, a soon-regretted error in judgement on his part when she'd promptly cracked his nuts with a swiftly-placed Heel Drop in response to such nerve, at which Khi had winced noticeably, and a wide-eyed, sputtering Oihiko had wisely been quiet for the remainder of the ride. Personally, she suspected such prolonged silence had something to do with his frothing at the mouth. Never let it be said that Ikuhara Natsuki made empty threats.

After parting ways with the now not-so-chipper loser at Koharu station, she and Khi had made their way home to the apartment; since Takaya had left with Ren and the others, her brother's little love-nest had become her own home-from-home. She stayed there mainly to make the commute to school easier, now that she and Khi were attending Koharu High; living here meant she could sleep in longer in the mornings, something she was sure would be rectified now that Khi would live here with her too. But her continuing presence also stopped her father from foreclosing on Takaya's tenancy agreement with the landlord, Neneko's father.

Takezou had tried to renege on the agreement for the apartment's tenancy mere _days_ after Takaya's departure with Io's community, to get rid of the place like his son was never coming home again. But his efforts were scuttled when Neneko had got in-touch from America, asking her father to hand the tenancy to Natsuki until Takaya returned; Harumi had agreed immediately when Neneko's family had put the idea to her, having been against her husband's plan to seemingly leave his son homeless, and the apartment had been passed to Natsuki to keep the place lived-in until Takaya got back from wherever Io had flown them all away to. Harumi seemed to think her husband intended his actions to teach Takaya something that would otherwise be harmless; Natsuki had merely chalked up another point to her father's useless parenting skills – for a man whose life apparently revolved around logic, he couldn't bequeath a life-lesson to his kids in a way that made sense and _wasn't_ cruel if it killed him.

The tiny apartment could just about house two people, though, and when Takaya did return, he'd have Ren in-tow and would no doubt want his apartment back; Natsuki would have to find someplace else for herself and Khi when that inevitably happened, now that they were so inseparable as they were, and she meant to start planning for that just as soon as she could, because one day Takaya and Ren _would_ come back, she was sure of that.

"Natsuki-sama," Khi's voice behind her startled her out of her thoughts suddenly, and as she turned to look at him, he reached down and pressed something cold into her hand. It was a glass of juice. "I thought you might like some refreshment," he smiled brightly, holding a glass of his own in his other hand, "It was a long trip, after all…"

She smiled up at him in thanks, and they turned away from the window into the living room. Together for barely forty-eight hours, and already his only concern was for her; her pleasure, her comfort, her _happiness_, because ultimately her happiness was his own. One day soon, very soon, she would have to come up with a way to return the favour, because she couldn't bear the thought of letting their relationship be so entirely one-sided.

True, it was in a DearS' nature to serve, and to desire to serve, but real, loving relationships were two-way streets, carefully balanced measures of giving and taking and giving back. She couldn't let Khi give her his every waking moment without at least trying to give him something back, because that would be selfish… and more importantly to her, it would mean that she'd allowed him, her best friend, to make himself her slave for real.

She eyed the suitcases as Khi moved back into the kitchen, and immediately set about unpacking while Khi concerned himself with other things, to take her mind off the minor dilemma she'd been wrestling with. She'd been storing her things in the bottom half of the closet, because Ren's 'room' in the top half had been left undisturbed. The DearS' futon and all the few possessions she had left behind were still there, and although it limited the amount of storage space in the apartment, Natsuki knew her brother and Ren would thank her for preserving Ren's things just the way she left them.

For half a second the thought crossed her mind that Khi had no-where to sleep, but she promptly dismissed it; Khi didn't need a bed of his own - he'd be sleeping in _hers_. '_If it ain't broke, don't fix it' _was how the old saying went, and she sure-as-hell wasn't going to try; all they needed was a bigger futon – easily remedied, and they'd certainly make do until she could get one… Khi made for a rather comfortable mattress, as she recalled. _On second thoughts, maybe we don't need a bigger futon after all…_ she mused with a dark smile.

The phone rang suddenly, surprising her; she rarely ever received phone calls direct to the apartment. Khi answered it, and after what seemed to be a very short conversation, he replaced the receiver with a look in his eye that struck her as distinctly business-like. She'd seen that look before, when he'd occasionally be called away from school to deal with some important situation regarding the DearS; he _was_ the diplomatic representative for the Japanese DearS community, after all, and not to mention the main DearS liaison in Koharu itself – when that lunatic Rubi was busy doing whatever it was that she did, or when the situation required a softer approach, Fina called for Khi.

"Natsuki-sama, Fina-sama has requested our presence at Headquarters. She has arranged for a car to pick us up in an hour's time, but she asks that we inform Headquarters if you need more time to prepare. We can specify a time to be collected if that is the case."

Natsuki looked up at him seriously, mild apprehension apparent in her features. "… She knows, doesn't she?" she said, and it was really more a statement of fact than a question. "She knows about our binding already. How?"

"I would think it likely that Fina-sama does know, yes," Khi answered with a soft smile. "Her heart-sense is deeply interwoven with that of every DearS in her charge, even those in the other communities around the world. If something changes in one of us, she is aware of that change even if we ourselves are not. In that regard, it is very likely that she is aware of my having bound myself to you."

"What does she want us at Headquarters for?"

"Most likely, she wishes to extend her congratulations to you, and to give her acknowledgement to your status as my Master. In the past, before we DearS came to Earth, the Watcher would ask new Masters to come before her so that she could give her recognition of them as such… There may be some ceremony in that regard, but it would likely be rather short, really more of a formal discussion, so you might address any concerns you might have…I hope you find this acceptable, Natsuki-sama?" Natsuki nodded, and he seemed to relax; he knew full-well that she hated it when people made too much fuss.

After that, she made to get ready for this meeting, or whatever all the excitement would prove to be about. She hadn't seen Fina or her pet psychopath in-person since Io's departure, and that had been the better part of three years ago. But as much of a bother as all this was, to suddenly come at them from out of the blue, she realised as she headed for the bathroom that she _did_ have things that she wanted to talk to the Watcher about.

Khi's 'training sessions' with Rubi, for one, were going to _stop_. She would make it crystal clear that if Khi came home with any more bruises courtesy of that sadomasochistic loon, she had every intention of raising hell. She also wanted to make sure that he was removed in _every_ capacity from his original Homestay family; she wanted to make sure that that private-school jerk he'd stayed with would get the message, loud and clear: Khi belonged to her now, and if the pompous asshat ever came near them again she'd make him sorry he'd even so much as cracked his knuckles in Khi's direction.

Quietly she wondered if Fina knew about that, that the son of Khi's homestay host had been beating him until her brother had stepped in and 'ordered' Khi to start standing up for himself; it was a little-known fact that Fina had been unconscious for much of the DearS' first two years on Earth, and had only awoken from a self-imposed hibernation, designed to prolong her own life, a few weeks before Io had matured and transformed into the second DearS Watcher.

Natsuki wondered how much of what'd gone on during her time asleep that Fina had been aware of, or made aware of when she'd awoken; she pondered if the matter of Khi's abuse at the boy's hands was worth bringing up, whether or not it might cause some unnecessary hassle. After all, it had been a long time since Khi had been living there - he'd moved back into the main DearS community when his time in the Homestay Program had come to its official end after Io's departure - and given that the guy had gotten his act together after the thing with the photographer, she had a feeling that to Khi it was all water under the bridge.

That didn't mean that _she_ was going to forgive the bastard, though, and she still didn't trust him as far as she could throw him when it came to Khi. She might be a little paranoid in that regard, but now that Khi was hers, there was no such thing as overkill, and perhaps there never had been; in retrospect Khi had meant more to her than just a best friend since before Takaya had left, he'd become her rock in her brother's absence, her confidante... and since Neneko had left for her apprenticeship in America, he'd become her _everything_ – she'd just never plucked up the guts to admit to herself how much his friendship meant to her... and how much she'd needed him as more than that besides. But things would be different now that they were together, she knew, and once Fina had given them her blessing, things would be _better_ than ever before.

And safe in that knowledge, she ran herself a bath, got in, and drifted off into a soft thoughtlessness for the entirety of twenty minutes, relaxing silently to the background sound of Khi puttering around the apartment as she cast aside her worries for as long as she could.

- X - o - XoXoX - o - X -

Forty minutes later, the two of them were stood outside the front door of a building so bland and unassuming that it stood out like a sore thumb; that it stood just on the corner of a shopping street whose stores and storefronts were known for being anything _but_ bland and unassuming did not help its failed attempt to blend in. Gone was the strange signage often seen posted outside the spaceship while it resided out in the bay, but evidently the DearS still had a few things to learn about external decor. The building's only real distinguishing feature was a rather large, formal looking metal plaque – the same metal as a DearS collar - next to the door, baring bold engraved kanji and an English translation below it in slightly smaller characters, presumably for the tourists' benefit. It read:

**鹿本部**** - ****メインオフィス**** - ****小春県**

DEARS HEADQUARTERS – MAIN OFFICE – KOHARU PREFECTURE

**公式ビジネスのみでお願いします**

OFFICIAL BUSINESS ONLY PLEASE

Khi wore his DearS attire, and while Natsuki wasn't sure why it was so essential that he did, she knew that it _was_ important all the same, much in the same way that it had been important for him to wear it when he'd bound them together. He'd assured her relentlessly on the journey to headquarters that Lady Fina would be 'most pleased' to see them, and while she didn't doubt his word, the fact didn't make her any less nervous of the idea of simply sauntering into a formal meeting with the DearS Watcher, and to discuss their Binding, no less… _Yeah, you're freaked out,_ she said to herself beneath her breath, _so deal with it already, 'Master'. This isn't gonna go away, it has to be done._

Khi took her hand in his and gave it a light squeeze; a gesture of reassurance, a silent insistence that there was nothing to worry about. "Let's get this over with," she grinned nervously, and swallowed the lump in her throat hard as she reached with one hand for the door of the building, and refused to let go of him with the other. The door swung inward before she could touch it, and beside her, Khi bowed slightly to the DearS who had come to see them in. "Greetings, Rubi-sama," The words rolled off his tongue with an overly-formal tone that instantly set Natsuki's nerves on edge; to be met at the door by Fina's not-so-little guard dog was something that would've set her on tenterhooks on a _normal_ day… and today was decidedly not so normal.

Rubi was dressed normally, for once, in human clothing. Though truth-be-told, that the clothing was human was really all that made it 'normal' – the spindly but well-endowed woman wore a black, high-cut leather jacket complete with spiky metal studs, a crimson sports bra that exposed her midriff, a _very_ small miniskirt, also black leather, and fishnet leggings; the ensemble conjured images of some of Mitsuka-sensei's more… _creative_ wardrobe 'accidents', and Natsuki fought down the urge to shudder. In that getup the Barker would look right at home in the midst of a motorcycle gang, she noted to herself sourly; the steel chain, pocked with rust spots, that hung around her waist like some kind of belt only cemented the image. This was decidedly not the way Oni-chan had described the woman's dress style – her brother had described denim jeans and silk shirts, and sports cars; something had clearly changed for the Barker in the two years since Io's departure, and changed _how_.

On the woman's hip, she saw the Barker's trademark whip hanging on a little clasp, within easy reach at moment's notice. Altogether Rubi's entire appearance reminded Natsuki of exactly what the DearS Barker could be when she wanted to – a dangerous thug. But still… her eyes were so bright, a strange kind of laughter in them, soft and silent, and calm as the sky on a cloudless day. She looked almost… at peace, as she looked her student over, and smiled in return to his greeting. **_Former_**_ student,_ Natsuki reminded herself, _He's not her little whipping boy anymore…_

"Good day, Khi. It is good to see you. And this must be your new master…" Rubi ran her eyes over Natsuki, as though inspecting her as thoroughly and politely as she could, saw the way the girl gripped the Black Sheep's hand so tightly, the way her muscles were taut, as though she were ready to turn and bolt at the slightest sign that their Binding might be refused or frowned upon – he belonged to her now, and she would not give him up without a fight. Such a struggle would not be necessary. "It is a pleasure to meet you again, Ikuhara-san," the Barker smiled, something Natsuki assumed was a polite gesture, "I trust Khi has given you no trouble…?" Finally Rubi met Natsuki's gaze, and bowed deeply; Natsuki wasn't sure if the woman was being respectful or just snide… she was certainly capable of both. "Fina-sama asks that I personally escort you to the meeting room," the Barker said, "Right this way, if you please…"

And that, strangely, was that; Rubi turned curtly into the small reception room behind her, then into the hallways beyond. Natsuki looked to Khi, and he gestured into the building, holding the door for her with a reassuring smile.

The meeting room was a grand affair, Natsuki decided as she stepped inside, mainly because it was so _huge_, and utterly bizarre as only this place could be. If this was a meeting room, she'd never seen one quite like it, and she'd seen a few, being the troublemaker that she occasionally proved herself to be. The walls, armoured in polished stainless-steel plating, contrasted sharply with the black marble floor; lime green and jade-coloured veils hung from the ceiling, Fina's colours as it were, and heaps of soft-looking throw pillows were scattered in a rough crescent pattern around the room, facing toward a massive screen surrounded by complex, high-tech looking equipment. If the piles of comfortable-looking pillows were meant as seats for guests, then this place could host quite an audience…

The screen gave away the ensemble of alien technologies for what it was – a communications array. It had been stripped from one of the DearS ship's communications suites before Io's departure, Khi's memory informed her from across their link, and Fina had had it retrofitted here by some tech-minded DearS whose name Khi couldn't quite remember; it suddenly struck Natsuki that Fina could readily communicate with Io's ship and its occupants - and her brother. She'd have to ask about that, she decided… She made a mental note, added it to her list.

Behind the thin fabric drape-walls, a slim, beautiful figure could be made out reclining gracefully on a large, floating seat of plush cushions. Fina – _Lady Fina_, Natsuki corrected herself – was regal and resplendent as ever, and seemed to be… was she _sleeping?_ Rubi silently gestured to them to wait at the final set of hanging drapes, and cautiously approached the slumbering Watcher; the Barker stepped close to the older DearS. How _much_ older Fina was, Natsuki couldn't tell, and Khi either didn't know or was politely declining to tell her; she merely knew that Fina was the oldest DearS on the planet, despite the fact that she didn't look so much as a _second_ over thirty. She watched as Rubi bent to whisper in the Watcher's ear, and Fina's eyes softly drifted open at the sound of her aide's voice; her gaze immediately fell upon them, and she smiled warmly at the sight of them. And when she saw their entwined hands, she positively _beamed_. There was love in those softened eyes, Natsuki saw, so much love, and all for her community, the flock that she had so diligently overseen for her entire adult life, now growing bigger and bigger by the day.

"Welcome, Ikuhara-san, and Khi, our dear Khi… it brings me great joy to see you together, that our precious Black Sheep has found a Master. If any of us deserves such a gift, it is you, Khi."

Under less formal circumstances, Natsuki might have gagged at the copious volume of mush that was suddenly directed at them… but in Fina's presence the link between herself and Khi had been thrown open so much wider than she could have imagined, and suddenly she was overwhelmed by an intense wave of pure, unadulterated _pride_. Khi's face was flushed with it as he bowed deeply to the Watcher, and she found herself smiling. Fina rose from her reclined position as Rubi seated herself on a single, large red cushion, which seemed out of place amid the torrents of green, on the floor next to Fina's floating seat and the Watcher beckoned them forward.

"I summoned you here today," Fina smiled, "that I might acknowledge you as Khi's master, Ikuhara-san. In that regard, I would like to observe a tradition we have, one of the few surviving from our previous hosts. If you would accompany me for a moment, there is something I would like to show you." Fina held out her hand in beckoning as she slipped off her floating perch, and began moving toward a doorway off to their left. Grudgingly, Natsuki began to follow, moving after the elder DearS a few steps, before turning back to Khi; "Stay here… I'll be back in a minute…" And then she stepped lively to follow the DearS Watcher as she disappeared into the adjoining room.

Khi looked to his former mentor with some apprehension; it felt… odd, to be apart from his Master now, but tradition demanded that Natsuki-sama do this by herself. "The Honour Wall?" he enquired, and Rubi nodded. "Yes. The reassembly was recently completed… and there have been new additions, as you can imagine... some of which were unexpected." The Barker was blushing suddenly, and Khi found himself failing to comprehend why, until he saw the glimmer of delighted tears in his former instructor's eyes; her greatest and most favourite student had exceeded her highest expectations – he had not only discovered the Gift, but had found a master of his own, and above all else, he had made her _proud_.

- X - o - XoXoX - o - X -

Natsuki looked up at the alien-metal surface before her in astonishment – she had only seen recognition on this scale at monuments, of the kind that acknowledged the fallen soldiers of wars long since past. But here, the DearS were taking such recognition to a whole other level, and they were not merely recognising their dead – they were honouring those who had found a Master of their own. And there were so _many_ that it made her head spin. The strangely-shaped plaques on the wall seemed to encompass the entirety of the very large room.

"This is our Honour Wall, the place where we give tribute to the names of those DearS who have discovered the joy of the Gift, and the masters who have deigned to love them," Fina told her as she gazed at the epitaph. "Our ancestors and those Watchers who came before me began this tradition many generations ago; the many DearS whose names are inscribed on the braces here are no longer with us. Indeed, many of my generation perished in the war that consumed the world of our previous host – a war that almost rendered our species extinct, and from which the very last of us fled. Their names are inscribed here, on the braces their chosen masters so proudly wore, that we might remember them, and remember that our love is the greatest gift we could ever give, and receive in return."

Natsuki could only nod, scarcely-able to comprehend the sheer number of DearS who must have died for there to be only a handful of them left, let alone that so many of them had experienced the love that she and Khi were now just beginning to know; instead she kept gazing at the wall until a question occurred to her. "…Braces? They're not plaques?" Fina turned to the back of the room, and moved toward a panel set into the wall, beckoning Natsuki to follow her again as she explained. "It is a time-honoured custom, Ikuhara-san, that the Watcher calls a new master before her to acknowledge their ownership of a DearS slave. When there is an occurrence of a DearS binding themselves to a Master via the power of the Gift, the Watcher is then obliged to present the new Master with a unique device that not only enhances the Gift's connectivity, but gives a physical representation to the link between the Master and the binding DearS." Fina paused briefly, and continued when Natsuki made a noise of understanding. "We call this device a Master's Brace, and it is inscribed with the name of the slave who so wisely chose to serve the Master, that all who see it might know that their bond is one of choice, free will, and acceptance."

"Khi is _not_ a slave," Natsuki hissed suddenly, and stopped in her tracks. "I accepted his Gift because I wanted to be with him… because I love him," she stated boldly, inclining her head slightly; it was a gesture that radiated her pride, and left no room for argument. "I never wanted Khi to be my slave."

"But he _is_ a slave," Fina turned to her and smiled again, her voice conveying a soft but firm insistence. "Every DearS was born for but a single purpose, to find a master to serve and to love, who will love them in return. Even _I_ have a master, for as Watcher I am duty-bound to serve the needs of my flock. And I am loved for my servitude… I will always be needed, by some more than others, and for the sense of usefulness that instils in me, I am ever-more grateful… just as Khi will always be grateful that you accepted him when he chose you," Fina turned slowly to the wall, and ran a hand over one of the Braces there with a care that gave the impression of a certain fondness; perhaps the DearS whose master had once owned this Brace had been the Watcher's friend…?

"For that acceptance he will serve you happily, just as all those DearS who found the Gift before us served their own masters…" The elder woman continued, "But you must accept him for what he is, or you cannot truly experience his happiness for yourself. This is the way of the DearS - we serve our master and love them with all our heart, in the hope that our master might love us in return. Our ancestors allowed our race to evolve into this state of symbiosis to ensure our prolonged survival, regardless of what odds we might face. It is a stratagem that has seen us thrive and prosper, and it will do so again, once the right emotional balance has been achieved between our two peoples."

Natsuki took all that in as the Watcher stepped toward her, and placed a hand delicately on her shoulder. "Khi enslaved himself to you, Natsuki-san, safe in the knowledge that you would love him for the rest of his life. Until you can accept that Khi is and always will be your slave, you can never know the true extent of the happiness your acceptance has given him. Can you do this, Natsuki-san? Can you accept him for what he is? Can you love him as a slave - _your_ slave?"

Natsuki was silent for a moment, contemplative; she felt something of herself reach out to Khi, for reassurance, and it was only when she felt him reach back to her that she knew her answer. "…I can do better than that. I can love him first for _who_ he is, and for what his companionship means to me…" She was careful to meet Fina's gaze as she spoke, and put an emphasis on her words that was as polite as it was heavy – she needed the Watcher to see that she understood, but also that her view was key to her understanding, and it would not be moved. "I _understand_ that Khi is a slave, but I couldn't see him that way – I _can't_. I struggled with my feelings for him for so long because of it… I wanted so badly to be with him and yet I couldn't stand the thought of _enslaving_ my best friend… and then I realised that I was looking at it from the wrong perspective. So I accepted Khi as my _lover_, because I love him for _who_ he is, and not _what_, and he understood that when he bound us together… If my brother had accepted Ren as the _object_ she saw herself as, rather than as the person he loved her for being, then none of us would be here right now… Io would have wiped us out, for our inability to see you as anything but objects, as _aliens_ – that's the challenge, to look past the _object_ and see the _person_, and love them for who they are. It took me a long time to understand that, but I _did_…and it gave me a way forward that I could never have found if I hadn't loved him from the start…"

With her tirade all out of steam, Natsuki could only hope that she had made herself clear to the elder DearS – she couldn't be moved, and she didn't know what she'd do if the Watcher found her wanting. But Fina seemed to glow with happiness, and strode toward the panel on the far wall with renewed purpose. "Humanity never fails to amaze me, Natsuki-san… The human race is the first of many hosts to accept us for _who_ we are, rather than for what we can give… And like your brother before you, you are so insistent on loving the slave for the _person_ they are… It is enough to bring tears of elation to my eyes. I could never have dared to hope that Ren and Khi would do so well, to choose masters who were so wise… but I am forever proud that they have, for your brother brought our races together, and now you continue in his stead. I am so pleased that you think so highly of Khi; you are a credit to your people, Natsuki-san, that you would fight so hard to see him as more than a mere slave, for the simple purpose of _wanting_ to love him. For that alone, you have earned my acceptance, and a place on our Honour Wall. It is a privilege that few humans have yet earned…"

Fina approached the device set into the wall, and tapped seemingly at thin air, and a plethora of lights suddenly swarmed into life across the surface; it was a holographic display, Natsuki realised, or something akin to said technology of every sci-fi geek's fantasies. She watched as Fina's dainty hands danced across the massive display, and the interface began to swirl three-dimensionally around her; exactly what the Watcher was doing, she wasn't sure, other than the fact that the elder DearS was expertly-operating what seemed to be an insanely complex machine. She jumped back a step suddenly when the air in front of her shimmered, and a transparent screen formed before her. "Please do not be alarmed, Natsuki-san," Fina said to her softly, "This machine is our equivalent of your industrial forges. Its purpose is dedicated entirely to the process of creating a unique Master's Brace." The Watcher turned to see Natsuki approaching the blank, near-invisible square, and stifled a giggle when Natsuki reached out to touch it, only to jump back again as the panel moved to her hand seemingly of its own accord.

"The holomatter panel before you is a sensory device. It detects the link between a DearS and their Master," Fina explained, hoping to alleviate some if not all of Natsuki's apprehensiveness. "The data collected by the interface is used by the machine to identify the master, and to measure the strength of the bond between the master and their respective slaves. The data is used to determine the type of brace that the master requires, and to manufacture the brace itself. This is merely my prediction, but I believe the device will find that you and Khi require a brace that is quite complex, if appearing rather basic…"

Suddenly the panel in front of Natsuki elongated downwards, and replicated itself several times to surround her in a honeycomb-shaped cylinder that began to slowly spin in a clockwise motion.

"The interface is scanning you for the link you share with Khi," Fina said as she approached, "I assure you that the process is quite painless. After a few rotations, the interface will have completely mapped your link, gauged its strength, and will have gathered the necessary information to begin constructing your Brace. Perhaps we might address your concerns while we wait?"

The question in the Watcher's last sentence caught Natsuki off-guard, and suddenly she wasn't quite sure where, or indeed _how_, to begin; she had hoped Khi would be with her for this, if only that his presence might reassure her. _He's with you, he's always with you, you only need to reach out…_ the quiet voice at the back of her mind comforted her in a whisper, and seemingly in response a particularly large light on Fina's machine began blinking a bright and cheerful green; this seemed to please the Watcher greatly as she noticed it, as she clasped her hands together tightly with a loving smile. "Your link is very strong indeed!" the elder woman beamed.

Natsuki considered for a moment, before deciding which of her concerns to tackle first. "Khi's homestay family…" she muttered; the Watcher's face suddenly became stern and business-like, and for a moment, just a moment, Natsuki got the impression she had maybe just poked a very sore point of inter-species politics – gods forbid she had struck a nerve. Perhaps she really should have left that well-enough alone…

- X - o - XoXoX - o - X -

"I had wondered when you would wish to discuss the matter of Khi's abuse at the hands of his homestay host, Natsuki-san…" Fina said carefully, hoping fervently that she would not upset the young master before her with the things she was about to speak. "It was a matter that most distressed me, I must admit. You will be pleased to know, I think, that I took this matter very seriously when I learned of what had happened. It so concerned me that I made sure to deal with it personally… You see, even while I slumber as I occasionally must, I will not stand to see one of my flock abused in such a dreadful manner, especially one so precious, so _special_ as Khi." Natsuki nodded approvingly at the thought of Fina taking this so seriously, and the Watcher continued, a little relieved.

"I spoke at length with various liaisons of the Japanese government about this. Khi had suffered enough, I thought, and I did not wish for him to be dragged back into a matter that he had made peace with for himself. To that end, I saw to it that he was kept, as you might say, 'out of the loop'," the Watcher said as she monitored the machine's control panel, and made various, rapid-fire adjustments; "I insisted that your government enforce penalties upon the family who cared for Khi during his spell in the Homestay Program. They acted with great urgency when they learned that a DearS of such high standing as Khi had been abused by his Homestay family, and I ensured their investigation into the matter was as fair as it was intensive. They uncovered a good deal of evidence, despite the family's attempts to cover up incidents such as the one in which yourself and your brother, Takaya-san intervened, and as a result the family has been forced to forfeit many of their most lucrative business assets. I believe such action has led to their family's name being damaged, their social and political standing tarnished."

The fact that the DearS community had taken such a heavy-handed approach, and that the government had agreed with them surprised Natsuki, and it showed on her face. "This was sadly the most your government could do to penalise the family for its treatment of Khi, outside of outing them publically for their abuse of a DearS in their care," Fina went on, before turning back to look at her, and Natsuki saw that the Watcher's face was very stern. "If it were my choice, though," Fina said quietly, "I would entrust the boy responsible and the duty of his punishment to Rubi, or perhaps to Xaki, depending on the boy's willingness to atone for what he has done. In our former hosts' society, his punishment would have been entrusted to us, the Dogs who guard the flock and oversee its safety. By our former host's laws I would have been within my rights to hand him to Xaki and the Biter Corps, who would have seen the boy treated in the same manner as he had treated Khi."

"An eye for an eye…" Natsuki muttered, "Sounds fair to me." Fina nodded solemnly, and continued,

"As guardians of our Community, we Dogs find certain aspects of the structures of your world's legal systems to be difficult to reconcile with, after dealing with the much less-stringent system of our previous host for so long, but we must always remember that we are guests on your world, and we must respect its laws as its people do. As such, I think it best to let your legal system decide upon a fitting punishment for the boy…"

Natsuki nodded grimly, with the sinking feeling that the pompous little twerp would probably get off with a slap on the wrist at best – a punishment not nearly fitting enough. "Though, between us two," Fina whispered with a smile, "I hope for his sake that he does not cross paths with Rubi in the near future, lest he find himself in rather dire straits. Khi is… _was_ one of Rubi's best students, and although she loved them all in her own way, I think that perhaps she coveted Khi above the others. He was by far the favourite of her three greatest students. I'm not sure Rubi would be able to control herself, should she encounter this boy who hurt Khi for his own enjoyment. She might well endanger him, so I have seen fit to take certain steps to… rein in her iron-fisted approach. I know all-too-well that Khi means too much to her, for her to simply let this go."

Natsuki began to see what Fina was alluding to, as she digested everything the Watcher told her, and slowly she was starting to see that perhaps she had misjudged the Barker somewhat. Maybe she wasn't the unyielding dominatrix that Natsuki had her pegged as, but rather a stern teacher who only wanted to impart the best of herself to her students… and perhaps the best way to do that was through a strict, occasionally harsh regimen of discipline. That the Barker might feel affection for her students, as a teacher might love those children in her care, was something Natsuki had never thought to consider.

"You might be interested to know, Natsuki-san," Fina whispered, "that Khi learned _every_ skill he possesses from Rubi, and that she imparted to him every ounce of knowledge that a male Dears can learn from a female teacher. She taught him in the most effective way that she could, and only his fellow, female pupils could have possibly learned more from her. You have met them both in the past, I believe." Curiosity suddenly sparkled in Natsuki's eyes, and the Watcher noticed, and smiled. "Miu, Ayu and Khi are something of a triumvirate, in-terms of the skills they possess, and the level to which they have perfected those skill sets. They are by far the very best students Rubi has ever produced… each utterly unique in their own, special way."

"Miu, and Ayu…were Rubi's students too?" Natsuki's mind boggled at the prospect, but it made perfect sense to her that they had all had the same teacher, in a way. Looking back, there were so many similarities between the three of them… and she'd gotten along with them all so well… they'd each made her their friend so effortlessly that she hadn't thought to step back, where she might have noticed the glaring parallels the three of them shared.

"Indeed they were," Fina said with a giggle that gave away her own fondness for the three of them, "Although they were not aware that they were all her apprentices, because she instructed them separately, on an individual basis. This is the way she teaches all her students, and because of it, she was able to forge them into what she believes to be the three most perfect slaves of their generation. They each acquired a very different skill set from her teachings, making them equally unique individuals," the Watcher confided as the swirling panel scanning Natsuki finally completed its task and packed itself up, before hurtling back to its larger parent machine and seeming to integrate itself into the controls.

"Khi was Rubi's favourite student, and when I slumbered for the longest time and she began to loose hope that I would ever awaken, she turned to Khi in frustration and despair, and he became what you might call her rock. She leaned on him in her time of need, and he supported her while she cared for the community as best she could. That was what he was trained for, you see… While Miu became the model housewife and mother-figure, Khi was trained to be the perfect companion. These were skills that each of them naturally possessed, and Rubi's specialised training allowed these talents to emerge and nurture, until they were perfected. There is another talent they are all quite skilled at, of course…"

Fina's eyes twinkled at that remark, and she gave Natsuki a sidelong glance that was nothing less than conspiratorial, as though they were discussing some great secret… she quickly learned what Fina was referring to; "They are all extensively trained to be exceptional lovers… as I'm sure you can attest to Khi's proficiency," Natsuki blanched momentarily at the curtness of Fina's statement, and was beginning to wonder as to the depth of the elder DearS' knowledge of their relationship when the Watcher spoke again. "In that regard it is Ayu who is best of them, and her charisma makes this her greatest skill… But it is Khi who possesses a quality that puts him head and shoulders above his fellow students. He has an almost pathological need to help others, in any way he can, and this allows him to be a natural companion – his greatest skill is being his master's best friend."

Before Natsuki could comment on the statements Fina had just made, the machine on the wall began to hum deeply, so much so that she felt the vibration in the marrow of her bones. Then, as she looked on, a glowing orb appeared before Fina's outstretched hands, and an object seemed to materialise from within it. Slowly, the dim, pulsing light began to dissipate, leaving a thing in the Watcher's grasp that was made of the same familiar multipurpose metal that the DearS seemed to use for everything. It was smooth, Natsuki saw, it curved in just the right way, and looked suspiciously like it might fit her forearm from the elbow to the wrist perfectly; near the top of it, there rose out of the metal a single, familiar silver triangle, with a name inscribed into the pinkish alloy in bold, chromed kanji below a silver stud – 'KHI'.

Natsuki straightened herself up as Fina stepped toward her again, and the Watcher proffered to her the object in her slim, dainty hands. "This is your Master's Brace, Natsuki-san," Fina said softly, with a seriousness that was not lost on Natsuki, "I entrust this to you, as I entrust you with the member of my flock who is most beloved to all of us. I give you my most solemn promise, as the Watcher of my Community, that the slave who has chosen to serve you will do so to the best of his abilities. All I ask is that you take the best care of him that you can, and that in-turn you might allow him to care for you, for as long as he might live. Will you give me your promise, that you will do these things?"

"I give you my word," Natsuki answered with equal seriousness, and allowed Fina to place the brace on her left arm; it was warm as it touched her skin, and much lighter than she expected it to be; the bottom edges stretched themselves around her arm as it came to rest, until they met and melded together, enveloping her forearm in a snug and comfortable fit. She nodded as the Watcher stepped back and smiled warmly, as though welcoming her to the fold; as though to reassure her, Natsuki said, "I would love him anyway, because I always have, and regardless of what lies ahead of us, I can promise you that I always will."

"Thank you, Natsuki-san," Fina said to her, and grinned at the sight of the girl glancing back toward the meeting room; her heart leapt at the thought of being reunited with Khi again, and Fina smiled at the obvious elation in the girl's eyes. "I am confident that you will," the Watcher confided, "because your Gift would not be possible otherwise. It is my belief that Khi could not have chosen a more perfect master to serve."

Natsuki turned to the Watcher and bowed deeply, in thanks for the compliment. In the background the machine began humming again, which immediately grasped the Watcher's attention, if only for a second. "Unless you would like to discuss any other concerns," Fina said with a smile, "I believe Khi is waiting for you. You should return to him." It was not at all lost on Natsuki that Fina was suddenly distracted, but did not wish to be rude to her guest; "…I think my concerns have been laid to rest," she replied, deciding to make herself scarce, "If I have anything else I want to talk with you about, I'll get Khi to arrange something. Would that be okay?"

Fina simply smiled again. "Of course. Please do not feel yourself a stranger, Natsuki-san; you are a most welcome audience here. I can arrange for you to be present when next I speak with Lady Io, if that suits you? I'm sure you would like to speak with your brother, yes?"

Natsuki's brain suddenly stalled at that – it was almost as though Fina had read her mind _again_, and reminded her of the one thing she had forgotten. "Y-yes… I'd like that very much. When will you speak with the ship next?"

"Io and I communicate frequently, so I speak with the ship at least once every fourteen Earth days. The next communication is scheduled for a few days' time. I will be sure to have Khi inform you a day in-advance."

"Thank you, and thanks for your hospitality," Natsuki said earnestly, bowing again. "I promise I'll take good care of Khi." Fina nodded, and smiled again. The elder DearS' good-natured smile was infectious, and Natsuki felt her heart lift a little every time she saw it. No wonder Khi was always happy at the thought of seeing the Watcher. Softly she felt something tugging her in the direction of the Meeting Room, and turned that way almost unconsciously. "Khi's heart-sense is calling to you," Fina muttered as she returned her attention to the machine embedded in the wall, "He is concerned for his master. You should go to him."

She hadn't heard a better excuse to give the Watcher her space yet, so Natsuki chose to take her leave and see herself out. The two said their goodbyes, and as the girl concentrated on remembering her manners and resisted the urge to run back to Khi as fast as her legs could carry her, she didn't notice the new ball of light that appeared in the Watcher's hands.

- X - o - XoXoX - o - X -

Khi rose to greet his master as she returned to the Meeting Room, and immediately bowed from the waist at the sight of her new trinket; almost in response, she saw a chain of light flicker briefly between the link on her brace that bared his name, and the link that adorned his collar, before it disappeared again. Perhaps this was what Fina had meant when she'd said that the Brace gave a physical form to their link. She didn't quite know how best to respond to the sudden surge of formality, though, so she took up his hand again, and decided to go with the flow – final order of business being to address a certain Barker, to whom she was now fairly certain she owed an apology.

"I'd like to thank you, for the effort you must have gone through to have trained Khi so well," she said, turning to face the surprised DearS instructor, "I appreciate the pride you have in your students, and that you're still worried for Khi even though he's not your pupil anymore. That you accept me as a suitable master for your finest student is a great honour. I'd also like to apologise to you… I made assumptions about you and your methods of teaching because of what happened with Ren and my brother, and it was unfair of me to do that. I jumped to conclusions, and in retrospect, I believe I may have misjudged you. Please forgive me for this."

Rubi couldn't help but feel a little confused, and slightly awestruck as the young girl bowed respectfully to her – she had never heard of a master apologising for anything, especially to a Barker… perhaps the promising young girl before her was not the only one to have fallen pray to preconceived notions of prejudice. "Thank you, Ikuhara-san," Rubi answered, "It is most gracious and… humble of you to say so…" Still somewhat shocked by the sudden turn of events, Rubi couldn't think of anything else to say, and bid them farewell as the pair turned to leave, still hand-in-hand. As the outer doors closed, down the distant end of the hallway, the Barker heard merry laughter from the doorway behind her, and turned to see her Watcher standing there most serenely… and baring a new decoration of her own. This was _most_ irregular…

"She is a startling child, isn't she? I do not believe I have seen you so surprised since I reawakened, when Ren realised her potential as the Gate," Fina said with some mirth as she returned to her seat, but did not sit; instead she held out a hand to her Head Barker, who took it with a look that was inexplicably happy, if slightly confused. "Fina-sama… I don't… understand. Is that—"

"It _is_, Rubi," the Watcher stated with a smile, and it most certainly was – it was easily as complex as the child's, likely moreso, to the Barker's eye; it was larger, far more like a piece of armour, encasing most of the Watcher's arm, and was fairly more impressive than those that adorned the Honour Wall. It was a Master's Brace fit for a Watcher, and Rubi knew instinctively whose name it bore; the Earth's population DearS had grown into a stable colony now, after all, and soon her position as Head Barker would demand she begin moulding a new group of Dog-types from a special few of Japan's first native generation of DearS, to bolster the thinning ranks that protected and enforced order in the community, just as her subordinates in Earth's other communities would do the same on a smaller scale.

But training so many new pupils at once would not be easy with her distinctive teaching method, for she was an instructor who specialised in training unique Sheep-type slaves of great personal skill and sexual prowess – she was not naturally a Barker who took apprentices and trained new Barkers. That change alone would place great stress on her; that she would have to train several _groups_ of students at once meant she would have to alter her training technique, and her students would need to be protected from the anxiety it caused her, lest she unleash her frustrations on them. For that safe-guarding of her students, she would need someone to ensure her own sexually-aggressive nature would remain in-check, and focused away from her pupils.

Traditionally, such a role was filled by a power higher than the Head Barker, one who commanded her respect and to whom she ultimately answered – her own natural master-figure, her Watcher. But that did not mean it was any less of a surprise to her, that Fina had motioned to enslave her favourite subordinate to her will, to pre-emptively prepare for this change and ensure the safety of the flock. And it was nothing less than a welcome relief, that her Watcher had at last officialised the age-old arrangement that had existed between them for so very long.

"Come now, Rubi," Fina whispered with a gentle smile, "I grow weary… it would be best for us to retire, I think…"

"Yes, of course," the Barker replied softly, rising to her feet; she knew that her Watcher would only truly rest once certain… _needs_ had been satisfied, and she would be only too happy to apply herself to the task, just as she had so many countless times before; in many ways she had always been her Watcher's slave, and as Fina began moving back toward her bedchamber, towing her along, Rubi felt herself tingle with a sense of completion, a shiver of fulfilment she had long-taught her students to seek, never having dreamt of knowing it for herself, and whispered, "As you wish, my Master..."

- X - o - XoXoX - o - X -

Khi stepped out of the backseat as their car arrived back at the apartment, and recognised their visitor instantly – he _was_ their visitor, for it was only themselves that this man would have come to see. _By the Watcher,_ he thought to himself,_ **this** will not end well…_ For a moment he ignored the man, and turned bodily to take his master's hand as she climbed from the vehicle.

Natsuki's face plummeted the moment she laid eyes on their 'guest', despite Khi's best and almost-subtle attempt to block him from her sight. She had made it _very_ clear to her mother, on the day she'd moved into the apartment, that her father, Ikuhara Takezou, was _not_ and would not_ ever_ be a welcome guest in what was now her home. To her credit Natsumi had silently agreed with her, and had resolved to do her best to stop her husband from finding an excuse – _any_ excuse – to harass their daughter about her friendship with Fina's favourite mild-mannered mediator.

Gods-dammit, she'd kick Oihiko's ass into next month if he had even so much as _thought_ about opening his mouth…

"Whadda _you_ want?" She spat as she stalked past the man who occasionally deigned to remember he was her father, towing Khi behind her by the hand as they headed for the stairs that lead up to the apartment. Khi remained silent, and did his best not to let the man catch his eye – probably for the best, given the circumstances.

"Don't be rude to your elders, Natsuki," Takezou told his wayward child with a grin, "It's shameful of you to address your father that way."

"_What do you want?"_ Natsuki suddenly whirled on the spot, and almost pulled Khi off his feet. Silently she handed him the apartment keys from her pocket, and he wisely left them to it; if she hadn't come inside in a few minutes, he resolved to call her mother. Otherwise they would stand there for hours and he would smile that sickening, mildly-amused smile while she stood there and verbally tore chunks out of him, and generally made a fool of herself for his amusement. Khi had realised some time ago that there were several very good reasons for Natsuki's hatred of her father, and the trouble with Takeya-sama and Ren-sama was only _one_ of them. And after hearing first-hand the way the man had allowed his 'research team' to treat China and the other Zero Numbers – he could only describe some of their accounts as _horror-stories_ – it had become increasingly clear to him that Ikuhara Takezou was _not_ a good person in even the very vaguest of ways.

_"The only reason you have **ever** come to this apartment is to cause trouble for its occupants!"_

He heard his master scream at the man from the bottom of the stairway, and knew that if action was not taken swiftly, this would go on for quite some time. Luckily, he did not have to wait long for a solution to present itself, for at that moment, the telephone rang. He picked up the receiver, asked who was calling, and breathed a sigh of relief when he heard that certain, familiar voice on the other end of the line.

Takezou remained utterly nonchalant in the face of his daughter's rage. She really was blowing this completely out of proportion…

"Last time you were here you had Onii-chan _arrested_, for abusing a DearS of all things," Natsuki ranted at him, the fact that he seemed completely unconcerned only infuriating her further, "And all so you could get your hands on Ren and send her into _space! _Either you tell me what you're doing here, or I'll call Mom, and _then_ I'll call the police. So talk – _NOW!_"

"I heard a rumour that my daughter was following in her big brother's footsteps," Takezou smiled, "So I decided to come see if it was true for myself. Can't blame your old man for being curious, can you?"

_So that's what this is all about,_ she thought, _Yet **again**, he's poking his damn nose where it doesn't belong!_

Damned if she was having any of _that_.

"Yes, as it happens I _can!_ The _last_ time your infamous curiosity lead you here, you had my brother - _your son_ - wrongfully-imprisoned, and _then_ you convinced an innocent DearS that she was going to _murder_ the human race! And then you tried to launch her _into orbit_ on the front of a damn space shuttle! So you can take your damn curiosity and stick it where the sun doesn't shine!"

"Everything my research team did was for the greater good, Natsuki. I acted with the best intentions—"

"Some of the worst things _imaginable_ have been done with the 'best intentions', you moron! All you did was give Io another reason to wipe us out! You _can't_ _justify_ what you did! You're not welcome here, dammit!"

"You're being unreasonable, Natsuki. You're also being very rude… again. You really should show some respect for your father, young lady."

"Oh, sure I will – when _you_ stop being such an arrogant _asshole_, and start showing some respect for _other people_! Get lost, dad! Don't make me say it again, and _do not_ come back here before Onii-chan comes home!"

And with that, she turned and stomped up the stairway, and into the apartment. She slammed the door behind her, forcefully, and slumped against it. Khi appeared in the doorway of the living room after a moment, with the phone handset in his hand. "Natsuki-sama, Harumi-san is on the line for you. She wants to know if you'd like her to come and collect Ikuhara-san." Natsuki only nodded, and Khi disappeared back into the living room, before returning a moment later, without the handset – her mother was on the way. "Harumi-san says that she will be here in a few minutes," Khi told her, smiling cautiously, "She says that she is very sorry for your father's interference, and asked me to pass on her assurances that she will not let him bother you again…" Natsuki looked up at the sound of the hesitance in his voice; her gaze was enough that he knew better than to _not_ continue with relaying the message her mother had asked him to pass on. "She… she also extends her congratulations to you on our Binding, and says that she will stop by once she has… dealt with your father."

In exactly three strides and one, single deft movement, Natsuki crossed the kitchen and embraced him, before burying her face in the side of his neck. Khi returned her hug, and did his best to support her; he wasn't entirely sure of how best to deal with her when she was like this, so upset and very obviously disturbed in herself. Arguments with her father, few-and-far-between as they occurred, always seemed to leave her drained… he hated to see one such as his master, a strong and confident individual, rendered so utterly _vulnerable_. It reminded him how delicate her emotional state was on the inside, behind her rough-and-ready exterior, and it scared him. But it also gave him hope, because it meant that as much as he needed her, she also needed _him_, and to know that filled him with the warmest kind of joy imaginable.

"Perhaps we should sit down, Natsuki-sama," he whispered to her, "Today has been long and tiring for you, and if I may say so, I think it would be good for you to rest…"

Slowly he led her into the living room, and toward a huge and comfortable beanbag, her favourite seat. He allowed himself to sink into it, and softly guided her down to rest in his lap where she promptly curled up, head still tucked against the crook of his neck; in seconds she had wrapped her arms around him, and fallen asleep in his embrace as he rested a hand gently on the top of her head. It really had been a long and stressful day … and perhaps a little sleep wasn't such a bad idea for either of them.

It was sometime later when Khi heard the front door open softly – he couldn't be sure exactly how long, he had dozed off himself – and he smiled, wiping his bleary eyes free of sleep, as Harumi stepped in.

"Thank you for coming, Harumi-san," he said softly, careful not to wake his slumbering master, "I do not think a further confrontation with Ikuhara-san would have ended well. Natsuki-sama can be violent when she becomes upset, as you well-know… and Ikuhara-san only ever seems to make her furious… If I may say so, it was not wise of him to come here like that."

"I know, Khi…" Harumi sighed, and smiled at the sigh of her daughter sleeping peacefully in her new companion's lap – it reminded her of when Natsuki was just a little girl, when she would throw the most horrendous tantrums, only to pass out from all the blood rushing to her head so suddenly. It was always terrible while it was happening, but she always looked so adorable afterward… "Thank you, for taking care of her. My husband won't be a bother to you any further. And if he does come wandering back–"

Harumi took a moment to fish around in her handbag, and crossed the room to hand the DearS a small business card,

"—You can call me anytime on this number, Khi. If for some reason I'm not able to deal with it, I'll contact DearS headquarters and ask Lady Fina to send Xaki to detain my husband until I'm able to collect him. She was happy enough to send him once before, and said she'd do it again if I asked her."

"…Xaki-sama?" Khi was shocked; the head of the Biter Corps seemed a heavy-handed choice to deal with a one-man annoyance. Xaki was known, notorious even, for his violent approach to his assignments – he remembered vividly how the Biter had once torn through this very apartment like a hurricane, destroying the front door quite effortlessly. Still… Khi could see Natsuki being satisfied with that approach in dealing with the hassle her father occasionally caused. "Thank you, Harumi-san. I'm sure Natsuki-sama will find that acceptable. I will tell her you were kind enough to call by when she wakes up."

Harumi nodded, and smiled again as her daughter shifted in Khi's arms, mumbled incoherently in her sleep, and tightened her embrace of him. "I knew the two of you would come together some day… woman's intuition, I suppose you could call it," Harumi told him, "The two of you were so close, it just seemed a natural progression of your friendship. You'll serve her well, I think, and she will take good care of you…" Natsuki's mother seemed to stare at her daughter with a loving smile. "I looked forward to hearing that you two were together, however it might happen, because it would make her happy… and she hasn't been right with herself since Takeya left with Ren and Io. Now I look forward to the day when my son comes home, perhaps with a child of his own, so I can see them both smiling again…"

Khi thought about this for a moment before he could answer; parenthood was a new concept to most DearS, because the ways of their former host were still fresh in many of their memories. In their former host's society, to raise a child was a duty normally performed by the community as a whole, or by the breeder to whom the parent slaves belonged… it was rarely done by the DearS who had brought that child into the world in the first place. Indeed, many DearS were just now beginning to discover that their master not only valued them as a companion and lover, but also believed they should be able to partake of the joys and challenges that came with helping to raise the offspring that came of their union.

Natsuki believed herself too young and too immature to be a responsible parent, he knew; she thought herself very much unready for such a duty. She had discussed with him once, the prospect of Ren baring her brother's children, how it would make her an aunt… she had been unsure if she might be ready for even that responsibility. In contrast, though, she was adamant that Takaya-sama would rise to the challenge without fail, and would make a fine parent with Ren at his side.

"I imagine that it would not too much for a parent to ask," he finally answered, "that their children might grow to find happiness, and be able to see them enjoy it… We DearS are only now beginning to understand what it means to help raise the children we bring into the world with our masters, so I would not pretend to know… but we have always lived as a species who strive to inspire happiness in others, so perhaps that is the goal of being a parent, to raise one's child that they might find a happiness of their own, and share it with the world."

Harumi smiled at his words, he had made a rather poetic analysis of it all, as only he could… it was only a shame that her husband couldn't see his own children in the same light sometimes. "I think I'll leave you to it now, Khi," she whispered, "She'll be asleep for a good while longer, I think…"

"Of course, Harumi-san. I'll tell her you dropped by. Would you like me to ask her to call you, when she wakes?"

Harumi nodded, and thanked him for his thoughtfulness before she took her leave of them. Khi wouldn't say he was happy to see her go, he had always felt welcome in her company. But Natsuki would feel awkward, to wake up and find they had a visitor, and he was sure she could do without the added stress. Quietly, he heard a car start up and pull away outside; Natsuki stirred against him again at the sound, but didn't wake, and he snuggled down to join in her contented slumber.

- X - o - XoXoX - o - X -

Hours later, after the sun had set on their first busy day home, Natsuki sat with her hands splayed out behind her, legs warming under the kotatsu as Khi, still in his 'normal' DearS attire from their earlier visit to Headquarters, finished washing up their dishes in the kitchen; she had wanted to help, but he had insisted that she need not exert herself, so instead she had finished unpacking their belongings from the trip, before settling down to watch the TV.

Before dinner, Khi had told her of the discussion he'd had with Rubi, in which he had informed the Barker of their desire to visit Ayu sometime in the coming weeks, before summer ended altogether, and had enquired on the possibility. Rubi hadn't seen a problem with endorsing the trip – even the Community's favourite diplomat needed a vacation from time to time – and had promised to see to the necessary arrangements. He had elected to inform Ayu of their visit to Bousou himself, but had been warned that Fina would likely insist on saving him the trouble. Khi knew the Watcher never failed to seize an opportunity to catch up with those few DearS who had been enthusiastic enough to win the hearts of their human hosts, and Ayu was one of those DearS with whom Fina was thrilled to spend hours in animated conversation.

Ayu was one of the trail-blazers who had paved the way for the success of the DearS Community's settlement on Earth, adapting fluidly to her homestay community's costal way of life, and was a well-known face in the wider world too, a DearS icon to the masses like none before her, beloved to humans and her fellow DearS alike; what Natsuki admired most about her though, was how Ayu was so humbled by it, rejecting the lures of vanity and self-importance. People loved the way her enthusiasm was so infectious, that she could light up a room with her energy and charismatic grin, and even the sun seemed to shine more brightly when her laughter rang out across the beach from the volleyball court. They loved the way she made them feel more positive about themselves with just her mere presence, the way she strived to help strangers with no thought of reward.

Natsuki had only spent time with the sun-bronzed DearS twice before, and had been left with a lasting impression of Ayu's kind and energetic nature. It had been a great joy to her, to learn that she and Khi would be hanging out with the Community's resident beach-bum again soon enough; it would be the first visit to Ayu's homestay town for both of them, and Natsuki's first beach vacation since she'd been a child – it would be a great understatement to say she couldn't wait.

"Natsuki-sama, is there anything I can bring you from the kitchen before I turn out the light?" Khi's voice interrupted her reverie, and she gave him a casual shake of her head; silently he drew the kitchen curtains and flicked the light switch, before coming to join her at the kotatsu. The weather report on TV announced an expected drop in temperature in the coming early hours, and the thought of being wrapped warmly in bed with Khi brought a smile to Natsuki's face; the clock on the wall read 10:35pm, and it seemed at good a time, and _excuse_, as any to turn in for the night. They had nothing of importance to do the following day, and she looked forward to being able to spend a blissful, uninterrupted morning lying there together with him, beneath the covers.

Quietly they put away the kotatsu and turned off the TV, and Khi laid out the futon as Natsuki went to the bathroom to put herself through the familiar night-time ritual; reluctant to take off her new trinket, she resolved to shower in the morning instead of before bed, and then decided that perhaps a morning _bath_ might be a better choice – she silently schemed to let him run it for her, knowing how he would insist, before proceeding to get him wet, and then insist that he join her in the tub. Gleeful at the genius of her next master-plan, she quickly undressed and slipped into her usual bed wear, an oversized tee-shirt that fell as far as her mid-thigh and sat baggily on her shoulders, before returning to the living room to find Khi, bizarrely, making space on the bottom shelf of the closet.

"What, exactly, are you doing?" she asked, mildly amused by the scene in front of her.

"I believe this apartment has a tradition of sorts," Khi said, his voice muffled by the fact that much of his upper-half was inside the closet, "All the DearS who have stayed here before me, from Ren-sama to China and Io-sama, have slept in this closet. I thought it might be improper of me if I ignored this tradition that Ren-sama began, and since Ren-sama's room must not be disturbed—"

"Stop, Khi," Natsuki blurted, cutting him off; she was on her back on the futon, her legs beginning to kick a little as she teetered on the verge of a giggle fit, and had to calm down before she could properly articulate herself again. In the meantime, Khi withdrew himself from the depths of the closet's bottom shelf, and noticed with a bright scarlet blush what his master was wearing for bed – and the fact that she was not wearing very much _else_ for bed, particularly in the way of undergarments. His embarrassed gaze did not go unnoticed by her, and she reached for the triangle on his collar and pulling him toward her, before addressing him again; "Khi,"

"Yes, Natsuki-sama?" he asked, now even more red-faced than previously,

"I can tell you with absolute certainty that Ren only slept in the closet because my brother _ordered_ her to sleep there, because he freaked out every time he thought about what Neneko would do to him if she came in here to wake him for school in the morning and found him in bed with Ren. China and Io slept in the closet because there was nowhere else _for_ them to sleep."

"…Oh. I wasn't aware of this."

"Yeah, I figured that," she muttered, before peeling back the futon and getting to her feet. Then she reached for his collar again, tweaking it this time, and rendering him as bare as she was beneath her overly-large and very loose tee-shirt. "But despite the many ways I try to be like my brother," she said as she stared directly into his eyes from her hunched-over position, "I am in just as many ways _not_ like him as he isn't like _me_. So shut up and get in the damn futon."

"Yes, Natsuki-sama," he said with as much placidity as he could muster, though she couldn't help but notice the glimmer of humour in his eyes as he said it. "As you wish,"

And as a very red-faced Khi clambered and tucked himself into the futon, Natsuki traipsed purposely across the room to turn out the light. There was a muffled *fwump* as she dropped to her knees in the dark and climbed in with him, on top of him, and Khi noticed very quickly that at some point between the light switch and the futon, she had shed her only night-garment. And as Natsuki pulled the covers down over their heads - on their first day home together - the last thing that anyone listening that night would have heard was a single, sultry giggle that suggested the night was _far_ from over, for even as the day came to an end, it was really more of a beginning.

**FIN**

* * *

**Author's Notes**

So that's a wrap, folks! _DearScon_ is officially finished. Please, please, _please_ let us know what you though of it all, and particularly your impressions of the Master's Brace concept we came up with, and of the concept of a Watcher being able to 'enslave' her community's head Barker – if we ever get around to further-developing the other plots we have in storage for our DearS Project, we are going to use these ideas again, and we'd like to know what you think of them, how you reacted to them.

Below are some extended Authors' Notes, where I've scribbled my thoughts on a few things. Feel free to take a look!

_On writing **DearScon!**_

- I opted to take a different approach to writing this than the way my team normally operates on; we wrote _DearScon_ in a normal, linear, chapter-to-chapter fashion, whereas normally we would have written it in a pre-mapped, scene-by-scene approach similar to that of our Digimon Tamers series, seen here at FF in the form of our collection of preview pieces, _The Rematch_.

- Writing this story in a more normal fashion caused some strain to certain members of the team; we find that our usual, non-linear writing style allows for a more relaxed and spontaneous approach to the creative process, letting us create pieces of the story as-and-when they come to us, regardless of where they take place in the story's chronology, and weave those pieces of the overall story together later when we reach the end of our story map.

- We resolved to write _DearScon_ in a normal, linear way simply because it was to be posted, first-and-foremost, here on FF; with an expectant audience ever-waiting for the next chapter, we decided it might be more productive for us to write the story in a normal start-to-finish way, so we'd be able to post them up in the correct order once they were finished and given the once-over.

- This chapter-to-chapter method didn't exactly work out the way we expected, as we're solidly used to writing stuff in a very different way – I might write parts of chapter 8 while working on the story map for chapters 3, 4 and 5, for example, all while preparing to _begin_ writing chapters 1 and 2 … and put the finishing touches to chapter 10. And then, when each individual piece of the story is complete, we sew the lot together to create a finished product.

- Some people might think that approach is a little chaotic, but it works for us, and we think it leaves us with a finished piece that is more refined in terms of the ideas, detail and imagination that were put into it. We think, now that _DearScon_ has been finished, we're likely to go back to our normal way of writing stuff. Less stress, more abstract productivity!

- The ending to this story was far trickier to get right than I thought it'd be, particularly the meeting with Fina and Rubi; I don't know exactly _why_ that gave me so much grief to get right, but it did; it might have something to do with the fact that this part of the story wasn't as properly-fleshed out as the rest of it, and also the fact that I had several different ideas for how to end it, which kept overlapping and generally interfering with one-another. I was also becoming overly-concerned (and I still am) with my conspicuous lack of progress on one of my team's major original projects during the writing of this epilogue, and I fear that perhaps my sense of coherence for this piece might have taken a blow because of that… I suppose that's a consequence of having several (large) projects running parallel to one-another… ¬_¬;

_On writing the Epilogue_

- The first scene of this epilogue, where Natsuki is sitting at the window of the apartment, was originally very different and was completely re-written late into the process of creating the chapter, when we realised that our narrative description of Takaya's apartment and its layout was _completely wrong_. We originally had Natsuki sitting just inside the front door while Khi prepared her a drink in another room which was supposed to be the kitchen.

- The principle idea of the scene was 'Khi makes Natsuki a drink in the kitchen while she sits in the porch, doing some thinking as she takes off her shoes.' Basically, I had in my head that the kitchen was in another room of the apartment, when in fact it's the very first room in the apartment – one would walk in through the front door and step right into the kitchen; there is then a toilet and a bathroom in small rooms on opposite sides of the kitchen. This is the actual apartment layout.

- One of the guys felt something was off about the layout that I'd first described, so he poked me to double-check the layout map of Takaya's apartment (extras of _DearS Vol.5_, pg.174, for those of you who have the manga), just to be sure; when I did that, I realised that the apartment as-is in the manga was effectively a one-room structure with a small entry hall that also doubles as the kitchen, and that the entire layout I had in my mind as I was writing the scene was _completely wrong_, so the scene had to be entirely re-written, more-or-less from scratch. Yeah, we epic-fail like that sometimes; we'd be kicking each-other in the ass for this kind of screw-up quite frequently, I'm sure, if we weren't all living several thousand miles apart in different countries around the world. To say we're glad that the error was caught before we published the piece is something of an understatement. I guess it's a result of our chaotic creative process, but it's a consequence we're used to and it doesn't happen very often, so y'know… ¬_¬;

- Also, I like the idea of Natsuki having a dreamcatcher over her window. Don't know why, or what inspired me to put that in, but I immediately thought it was a nice touch. Yes, yes, I know – I'm weird that way. But it's a cool touch, dammit! ^_^;

- This whole epilogue took _so damn long_ to finish! No, really. It's all well and good to have a story map to guide you along when you get a little stuck, but when you _know_ what needs to happen and you just can't find the _words_… I'm sure you all know what that's like… I am not ashamed to say that I was tempted to curl up in a corner and cry with frustration at some points while writing this. Yes – It got _that_ bad.

Well, uh… that's pretty much it for my notes, and for _DearScon!_ Hope you all enjoyed it, and hope you'll keep reading our stuff!

Peace out, people, and until next time, we'll catch you on the flipside.

Regards,

_**Hydroknight & Team Hydro**_


End file.
